Digimon Protectors - The Highton View Terrace Incident
by TheJivewriter
Summary: Set in the events of the first movie in 1995, Captain Archer, a covert special agent is forced to fight in the events that lead up to the DigiDestined being chosen. A man without a future forced to fight for it, he teams up with Gennai to protect the children in Highton View Terrace and discovers his connection to the Digital World he didn't know he had.
1. Prelude

Prelude:

Someone once said there were no such thing as monsters, they never met a Digimon. Someone else said when you fight monsters you end up becoming like them. That person was Archer.

My name is Kari. I was a member of a group called the DigiDestined; I'm sure you already knew that from all the stories you've already heard. There are plenty of tall tales of the Digital World, a crazy place where the Digimon come from. I've had plenty of amazing adventures there when I was younger with the rest of my friends, lots of scary times too. In the end though, we helped save the world from the Dark Masters, Myotismon and Daemon at the end of our journey to keep the Digital World and our world safe for good. That was a great adventure, one that changed my life and was a great story to tell.

That story never happened, at least not in the way you remember it.

Remember Daemon? While we defeated Devimon, Etemon and the Dark Masters he was the only one who we didn't beat. We banished him to the Dark Ocean nearing the end of our story when it was suppose to end. One of the most powerful enemies we ever knew and all we did was lock him away from us. I found out he used to be called the Dark Mastermind from Gennai, a creature of unfathomable evil who mentored the Dark Masters himself into controlling the Digital World when we left it the first time. Just because we trapped him there, didn't mean he was gone forever. In fact, all we did was give him time all the time he wanted

Daemon knew after we beat MaloMyotismon we were too strong, a world of DigiDestined now united would stand against him. Even he could not stand a chance then. So instead he devised a plot to end all of us before we began.

In the Dark Ocean he found himself an ally. A creature called Ralius, a former servant of the Order to which Gennai belonged. He offered him a deal Daemon could not refuse for the sake of his revenge against us. Somehow, they had the ability to manipulate time to go in reverse but lacked the power to do so. The two agreed to help each other to change the past in their own image, one that would mean the end for all of us.

Gennai from our time found out of this plot before they had gone back. This was years after our last battle, most of us adults now with kids. By the time we all went to stop them it was too late. They had opened the gate to the past and had already gone through. Gennai was the only one who got close enough and followed them into the past through the vortex before it shut. Our story ceased to exist. This is where his story began.

It all started on rain soaked night in Odiba, Archer walking through Highton View Terrace District with a future he did not have before.


	2. Unforeseen Consequences

Unforeseen Consequences

The rain poured down on the streets of Odiba Japan, the black poncho over my shoulders and the black hood over my face. Every few seconds a red cherry at the end of my cigarette burned orange to give my brown goatee a sharp blood mandarin hue. My hands only a little cold behind the charcoal black rough leather gloves as it drew away the dart to exhale the cloud of cancerous smoke, it trailed into the air in a haze until it dissipate among the gray skies above me. The wind was strong at my back as the clocks ticked over to five in the morning. A long night overdue to be over, my ride skipping out and not wanting to pay for the taxi to my apartment. I needed to think about my meeting and how I should either salvage it or just get my plane ticket ready to go back to Seattle.

I'm Archer. That's really all you need for now. I was on business in Japan. It was government related and a big conference of those who work on the darker side of the gray lines of work wetter than the rain pouring down on me at the time. I've been lots of places in the world, strange and dangerous all around. Places you wouldn't like. No one would in their right mind for that matter. Angola, Nigeria, Somolia, Yemin, Sudan, Serria Leone to name far more than I should. That was in the last five years. I had been in Japan for about two years but I was actually born on a military base just outside of Toyko. Navy brat turned Army degenerate and then...well it gets classified after that.

For the sake of your curiosity, the business I was on had to do with a special project. Nothing involving aliens before you start getting too far out in tinfoil hat land, just a joint effort between SATO and NATO. Due to the growing popularity of global terrorism, there was a push to put together some combined force, spear headed by Japan of all places. They were looking to lift some restrictions on their constitution with US approval, we were looking for more joint training and deployment points in the area. I was just here as an advisory, translator and possibly one in the chain of command of this little outfit. We were stuck on names while we organized our candidates, I put forward Specialized Tactical Anti-Terrorist Interception Command, otherwise known as STATIC Force. When you got two silver bars on your shoulder its amazing what ends up getting jotted down on the drawing board.

The rain was starting to die off as I reflected on the meeting. Not often did much get done when you got three different chains of command from five different countries trying to hash out who foots what bill let alone who is going to do what. The droplets pattered lighter and lighter on my head as I saw the clouds thinning out above me. I pulled off my hood to get a good cold breeze going across my scruffy chin and running my hand through my longer on top hair to brush out a few bangs in my field of vision. The sides were still cut down to the quick to keep in regulation with the barrette I had to sport around though so it looked a little off. Making my way across the middle of the street, just about to drag off the last of my smoke I heard a crackling in my ear of the world around me suddenly changing for the stranger.

I had a low profile earpiece headset on, connected to my cellphone in my pocket that began to make some weird high pitched whistling noise. Sounds like long draw 'tweeeees' winding up before dropping along with what I could only decipher as digital information downloading feedback. The street lights around me started to flicker, my watch's display flashed and randomized numbers. Electrical interference? From what? Looking down the street to my left I saw building lights flash in random patterns, traffic lights flick from stop, slow and go at random. When I looked up the sky stopped me in mid step.

Above me was not the normal stary sky that I expected as the clouds parted. It looked foreign, bands of what looked like stretches of bar codes mixed with DNA sequences unrivaled along the sky. The backdrop to it looked to the striking similarities of the Northern Lights except far more detail and coated the whole sky with faint greens and bright blues. Tilting my neck up I could have sworn I made out what looked like land masses, oceans and even city lights on a world I couldn't be seeing right above me. My cigarette drooped from my lips, fell from it and made its way down to the wet street below me. A second set of lights came from my right, my eyes darting over after a second. Headlights? Horn sounded. Speeding truck. I'm dead.

I then was struck but not by the vehicle barreling down at me, instead a flash of robes out of the corner of my eye picked me up in a tackle at full sprinting speed. I was ripped off the ground, my cigarette falling to the pavement as I sailed back towards the sidewalk. I felt my chest almost cave in before my back hit the cement with a slam and a skid up and over the lip of the sidewalk. Only reason I didn't feel the snap of my spine was my concealed Kevlar armor under my jacket and shirt that deadened the blow. Hurt like hell as I rolled over backwards three times, slamming my head off a brick wall. My brain jostled in my head, my arms coming up gripping my scraped up scalp. and I slumped to the side with my vision twisting for a few moments. I saw my cigarette hit the ground. I'm alive?

Curled on the ground I heard another voice giving a slight groan, pulling my knees in as I drew my hand back to see if there was any blood. Yup, blood. I shook my head as i barely missed a concussion, realizing I had flown from the middle of the street at the center line all the way back to the corner of the sidewalk. The low wall with a barred spiked fence around it symbolically guarding a large residential building, Highton View Terrance in fact. I looked around to see who had saved my life so suddenly. He was even stranger than the sky was.

I thought he was wearing a very baggy tan trench coat but he was actually wearing some type of monk's robes. It was pretty basic but it has some prestige about it, nicely sewn darker tan trimmings, solid leather belt around the middle and some weird wrappings around his hands like fight raps. Short brown hair, almost spiked but he had a very long braided pony tail down his back. Around his neck looked like a religious symbol, more like a seal of some kind with the crosses and a shield and really weird looking symbols looked halfway between Kanji and random computer symbols. He looked in his mid thirties, younger thirties for sure, fair complexion and almost impossibly clean shaven. On his back was something I was a little more concerned with, a very large scabbard for what looked like a massive broadsword. Medieval in nature, a cleaver of men if you will and that just made it all the more confusing. The robed man stood up to his feet as I got to my knees, squinting through the moderate pain. "Are you hurt?" He asked leaning towards me.

I shook my head as I got up using the fence to get fully up to my feet. I brushed myself off of the grime and water as the truck that nearly hit me sped down the street. Must have panicked and gunned it to avoid my foot up his ass if he got out. "You must get off the streets it isn't safe." He pointed away.

"No where is ever safe." I answered with a shrug, "Doesn't bother me much. Thought my number was up. What's with the getup?"

He looked confused at my statement. Narrowly avoiding death and not one side of panic he was probably thinking. Been nearly killed a few times, this one was just a little more surprising. I reached for my pack and flicked another cigarette out, I was still expecting an answer. "You know swords aren't legal to carry around here." I said well aware of the hypocrisy of what I had under my tactical jacket.

"Don't you understand you need to get out of here!" He insisted finally, "I'm trying to-."

"Run away Gennai?" A smooth voice called out from the end of the street, "Time to stop running now."

I looked over just a block away, walking towards us seemed to be photo negative of the man I was speaking to, but that smile on his face was enough to make my senses start to sharpen up to a fight. The robes he wore were almost the same as the man called Gennai's, except they were black with gray trimmings. They were torn and faded at the cuffs, collar and bottoms worn by time but it looked almost intentional. I would have thought they were twins but the flesh on his face was a pale gray and his hair a solid white sheen against the street lights. What pierced me was his eyes. Blood red. The smile was sinister as he walked all on his own but with every step he took the ground started to form a thick soupy fog that stretched out behind him like a misty cloak, stretching out further and further as he walked. "Who's your friend?" He pointed at me, "Seems a bit old to be someone you might need."

"He has nothing to do with me Railius!" Gennai countered.

He laughed with a twinge of madness as I started to slip myself into a defensive posture, hand slowly reaching behind my back. Instincts started to kick on as that dark ether that formed along the street started to take human like shapes. My mind was trying to process all of this insanity but training was overriding the crazy for practicality. My hand slipped around the hilt of my belt knife. "Ooops you said my name and he's seen me." Railius answered, "Damn me if you wish. Oh wait you already did. No matter, I was going to kill a human one of these days. Might as well be him."

I didn't answer the threat as those forms started to shift up like pulling themselves out of a tar like substance, the smokey cloud beginning to peel away to reveal similarly dressed beings, only they had hoods and tight rapped masks around their faces. The eyes I still saw, glowing and looking right at me. Gennai stepped in front of me, reaching behind his back and drawing out that monstrous blade out in one pull off his back. The silver steel flashed out as the sky's cleared and the lights returned to just flickering in and out. "I'll hold them off!" Gennai looked back over his shoulder, "Run you fool!"

I was not going to take a fight like this, ill equipped and unprepared but now I didn't have a choice. Nowhere to run right now. The were knives that looked like they were made to gut crocodiles. Halfway between a kitchen knife crossed with a cleaver, the end was shaped like a fishhook complete with barbs. The pummels had spikes on the end. Nasty but they probably got the job done like they were looking to do to me and this Gennai guy. My heart rate was through the roof now, veins on my neck throbbing but I kept composure. The tan monk stood with his sword out, ready to defend a not so defenseless stranger as he thought. They quickly circled around us, my avenue of escape not there as we were cornered on this corner. I looked around for a path out, fences and walls in my way for the moment but nothing could not be vaulted. "I'll go right and draw them away." He turned back, "I'm sorry for this."

"Don't be." I spoke simply, "Wrong place to be tonight."

He glanced back at that, again confusion crossing his gaze. "You're not afraid?" He asked, "How?"

"Death comes for all of us." I answered as two of the dozen were working out who would lead first on me, "Its only a matter of how."

"Enough of this kill Gennai!" Railius ordered with a point of his longer verson of their blades.

Gennai bolted right like a blur of fabric and flashing steel, ten of them chased after. Railus perused with a casual stride while the others like hungry jackals after a meal. A battle cry followed those that perused, long howling cries of rage echoing through the streets as they vanished after him. Railus walked calmly up the street after them in no hurry, metal boots clanking away as he ran his thumb up his twisted sword. The two circled around me, closing the gap with their blades above their heads, dancing their steps side to side in joyful anticipation to sink them into me. I heard them chuckling like hyenas, Railus looking over at me for a moment in the middle of the street. He too was curious since my expression had not changed. "Human...you fear nothing?" He asked almost offended, "No begging? No barganing? Not a word of why?"

I didn't answer, nothing to say really. I was glancing between him and his two remaining creatures of my now real nightmares closing in, keeping tabs with every one of their steps. When I returned to him was a glare, he stopped mid pace. A laser gaze right into his, narrowed and even a little bit of anger was burning away into him. Railius didn't respond well to it, insult bled across his demeanor. "Kill him." He dragged the emphasis out on the words, "I don't want things like him running around."

I drew a sneer up my face as he continued now at a faster pace, wanting to catch up on his own prey. The blood red eyes looked away finally and I looked to the two still twenty feet out and orbiting me. A slight wind kicked up as my feet settled on the ground, weight shifting side to side as my breath drew hard in and out. Adrenaline was making my face tingle a bit, fingers twitch and the ones on the knife flex harder into the rubber handle. I looked towards my two attackers and they both halted in place. "A warning." I spoke finally with a raised finger, "I haven't begged for my life yet. Its because I don't fear losing it. How about you?"

"Death is here now." One spoke back in a bark.

"Embrace it." The other offered gleefully.

"Gladly."


	3. Believe In Monsters

The stand off continued, my attackers taken aback by my statement looking between themselves for a second. They must have been used to fear being the primary reaction. They charged none the less, one in front of the other in a lunging sprint. Trajectory. Speed. Form of attack. Reaction time. My mind zoomed out as a heart beat was an eternity between each thud. My surroundings were emphasized. My muscles tensed. My blade sprung out with a sharp twang.

In reality all was a blur, they flew sideways in as my body spun and with my other arm my sent my poncho flying off. The heavy rubber liner hit the furthest away, his vision being blocked as my knife flashed out. My blade snapped across in a slash under the strike the nearest one. The edge tore through the side of his hood, the mask around his throat and right through whatever flesh was three inches behind it. My arm came out straight to the side as the one blinded reached to rip rain barrier away. My feet twisted in a pivot, knife flipping into an underhand hold and hammered the point into the second. A sick crunch through the rib-cage, the bottom of my fist digging into the fabric as he came to a full stop and me standing beside him. The poncho falling away but still pinned to his body, his eyes wide and burning brighter somehow, he froze in place stunned. His eyes with their black pupils quivering over in my direction of my own look of indifference as I ripped the blade out.

He choked a yelp as the blade dragged out, my boot rose up I delivered a door busting kick right where I stabbed. My impact felt like I was hitting a dense sand bag but he still lurched back, wobbled down to the ground clawing at his chest. The stuck one babbled weak incoherent nonsense, writhing like he was on a hot plate on the ground. A toss of my blade up, one slow rotation freeing my hand up to produce my second weapon: a tan painted Glock from inside a hidden jacket pocket. The pistol flashed in the direction of the just finished stumbling into the fence, my off hand catching the blade out of the air. He gripped his throat with one clawed hand holding tight. He looked into my eyes from behind the barrel. "Embrace this." I spat back.

The gunshot rang out as I squeezed the trigger, two more after that. The slashed one crumpled down but instead of the familiar pink mist from the exit, the hit caused a spark of embers, his ash colored flesh cracking with bright fractures of bright black light purple. His head shattered with a single hole after the third and his head cracked open in a fireburst of orange like a sledge hammer to a glass skull. A neon purple smoke and fire surged out from his neck, the rest of his body, armor and cloth obliterated itself before my eyes. The remnant chunks churned away in a twirling vortex and into oblivion in a few seconds. I took my hand away from my eyes as the heat singed me, blinking slowly to what I just saw. "That...didn't happen did it?" I spoke to no one.

A growl came from behind me, my head whipping around along with my pistol brandished. The stuck one was getting up slowly, the same black lit glow radiating from his chest. It was radiating into itself, shrinking and the snuffing out leaving only a single line of puncture and a mangled scar. Instinctively I fired once to five more shots, each round puncturing his body leaving glowing holes and bursts of black soot out his back but he kept coming! Gun empty and diving slash poised, I swapped grips and clanged a strike off the incoming blade, parrying and slashing down the bend of his arm. It barely effected him despite I should have cut through his arm clean, a limp but whipping flail of a aimed cut missed. His arm snapped back into place but a kick popped a knee with a rippling crackle. He jabbed and swung hard, my blade parrying the strike off. My pistol mag went flying with a spin away, both of us squaring off in a circle. I flipped my gun in my had to be a stubby club for the second. He paced around me, mirrored his distance. His wounds that would have easily fallen a man sealing away as he wetly frothed hisses at me through the mask. "What the fuck are you?!" I demanded.

"Darkness incarnate!" He answered as his knee cracked back into place, "Your demise in physical form!"

He twirled his blade around trying to fancy me into a mistake, I flicked my blade and parried it off and cross slash flurried him right back. He wasn't concerned for his well being, taking the hits with his forearms and even his chest at times. I carved him up every chance I found, he didn't care. I snuck an upper swing of my pistol butt under his chin, spun on the spot and snapped a spin kick right to his face. My foot hit with all the intention of taking his head off but it was like hitting a wooden post, my momentum ending in that second. I landed, my feet scooted me back in a defensive stance, his face having small fissures of glowing purple on his face slowly shrinking away. No time to wonder what he was.

Dashing in, blades twanged off each other, slashes went wide on both sides as I caught an opening. I caught his wrist with my blade, twisted it over his wrists but both blades ended up slipping off onto the ground. He unceremoniously shoved me and up and over I went like I was thrown from a speeding car. My back clanged off the metal fence of the wall, the entire wall vibrating all the air from my lungs. My vision again twisted in my head as he charged, my arms shooting out sideways, grabbing the bars tight. In a feat of strength, a kick of my feet off the ground I flipped up with my hips the pivot point, used his incoming torso to run up and leave him with a whipping steel toed chin kick on the way by. I landed on the top of the stone wall part on the other side, catching the top bar just below the spiked heads. The hit staggered him but he sprang from ten feet away at a direct angle up at me, fingers out stretched to claw me in half. I jumped backwards, twisting in air and rapping my arms around his neck as he grabbed me. Too bad he didn't see me clear the fence while his neck was in line for the dulled points of the speared metal decorations.

I felt flesh again give way but a lot more resistance was met on the way down and before the first line of steel between the point and the bottom of the 'decorative' spear head. Gruesomely it stabbed through and his neck now had three inches of a spike through it. His shoulders in line have two on either side as well, impaled firmly on the black painted metal. I held onto him as he writhed and gargled with my arms keeping him in a head lock. One arm lose, I reached my hand into my pocked and pulled my spare magazine out from a pouch inside it, slamming it into the exposed butt of the pistol in my left fist. A clawed hand came around to my face as I yanked my Glock out from my hand, clicked the action forward and jammed it right to his temple. "Heal this!"

I fired one round point blank and he burst into the same flame and dust. As he faded from existence, I slipped off and hit the ground with the back of my head chipping off the edge of the stone wall, a jolt of pain shot through all the way to the tip of my nose. Finally, all was silent save the wind again.

I picked myself up off the flowerbed and the bush I crushed, instinctively picking up the shell casing on the ground and putting it into my pocket. I slowly made my way over the fence, the steel points looking a little burnt but no one was going to notice. I landed on the ground, looking around cautiously and listening to any sirens or witnesses. Nothing so far. I collected the casings off the ground, pain in my body numbly throbbing away as the toll of this insane fight was adding up. I was about to make a run for it when I saw Railius at the end of the block.

I stood off to him and my pistol snapped to his direction, shoulders square and gun aimed waiting for him to come forward a little more. Incensed I was standing there, he shook his head side the side slowly in bewilderment. My blade under my pistol pointing forward as he walked towards me, the quarter inch gouges in the blade apparent like a small torch sliced through the metal. "How?" He asked me with arms wide out.

I wasn't interested in a conversation, I pulled the trigger instead. Multiple times. The rounds hit him right between the eyes within a quarter of an inch. His head whipped backwards, twisting away as I walked forward landing every shot somewhere on his skull till the magazine ran empty again. I instinctively reloaded, dropping the magazine and loading in the last one I had from inside my jacket. Railius didn't fall over or burst into unearthly flames. He turned around to face me again and only small gouges on his face were there and they all snapped shut with a one deep breath in from his nose and a thumbing of his cheek. Fuck. "Just so you know I'm going to kill you." Railius assured with a point, "I want to know how you are not afraid first."

I didn't answer, my mind too busy rewiring my questions and uncertainty to find a way to get out of this. I glanced side to side but kept my looks mostly on him as he walked towards me with his blade in hand, flat side over his shoulder, shaking his head at me. My gaze remained the same, he was now angrily beside himself. "I can feel fear." He salivated at me with his hand like he was holding a wine glass, "I can sense weakness. You? You! There is nothing! You can't kill me! You can't beat me! Yet for some reason there isn't an shred of fear or dread in you! Why?!"

I kept my aim up, taking slow steps backwards without a word. Eyes glared right back, unyielding at him even if it was only indifferent defiance. "I don't know myself." I responded bluntly, "Guess neither of us will get an answer."

Railius slowly shook his head some more, disbelief overtaking him. It was like he couldn't comprehend what he was seeing or hearing in me. He seemed to fight with himself, pacing back and forth a few paces across the street. Pointing at me at times, aim following him regardless standing square with him, confusion and anger changing prominence on his face every few seconds. "Okay then I have a really great idea." Railus came up with something clasping his hands together, "I like you. Really. I do. So you get something special. You believe in monsters human?"

"I met a few." I replied cocking the hammer back for a tight shot.

"Then maybe this monster be more to your liking." He snapped his fingers.

The smoke churned away like a lightning stormed contained, complete with strikes on the ground and nearby light posts fracturing the glass and blowing out the filaments. The first thing that rose to my attention was the large bulbous abdomen belonging to a spider complete with a spindle at the back that leaked clear fluids. It was a smooth shell with a skull and cross bones on it as the guttural laughing came from the fog. Next was its mangy mane of whispy red dreadlocks and two long bar like horns made of tarnished gold with black stripes. The eyes shone through next, green in color and they were all focused on me. The mandible like jaw was a leathery purple, the laugh coming from a wide open mouth the could swallow souls it appeared. The legs that splayed out were more like detached arms, six of them ending in red hoves while the front two were complete arms with red gauntlets on them. When it finally stood before me and behind Railius, it was eight feet tall at the back.

"Dokugumon?" Railius beckoned his summoned demon, "Drain every drop of blood out of his body."

The monster's eyes showed my reflection as it lowered itself to pounce, a guttural laugh coming out of it letting me know what a voice of hell sounds like, its long tubular feet pads scratch the ground. One thing came to mind. "Mental note," I let the thought come from my lips, "Take cab home next time."

Another roar of intimidation, me reacting by firing a round into one of its eyes from this distance. I saw it shudder and then whip its head away. As it came back down, I let off three more, two landing and my feet did the rest, a long screeching as it craned its neck up momentarily blinded. "What are you doing after him!" Railius yelled as I cleared the corner in a dash.

My stride was long and right through the center of the street, escape and evade was my only chance now. I visualized straight lines through my paths, obsticals and cover for the shortest distance. Back alleys and parkways were my only options, narrow areas where it couldn't get me. An open manhole would be a blessing. I cleared blocks in under a dozen seconds, if someone had watched me blow past I was clearing my under four to the mile record. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw the creature barrel around the corner and scream rage at me, the sharp cry hurting my ears as I cut a street corner in a leap onto the other street. I slid over a hood as it scuttled after me to catch up, keeping my momentum and putting everything I could between me and it. It moved quickly, gaining fast but I was nimbly darting between vehicles and street lights. It reared its ass end up and shot a long thick strand of webbing up onto a high building, picked itself up off the ground and swung towards me to scoop me off the street. I shifted off the street, stepped on the hood of a car and flipped over, missing a swiping arm as it sailed up into the air, growling at me as it missed. "Acid blast!" I heard the monster cry out.

I looked up and out from its mouth in a spit came a watermelon sized glob of green slime at me at high speed. I juked right on a strained ankle pivot and dove for good measure. I rolled and bounced back into my run as the fluid crashed to the ground. It burned right through the cement we ease, a few splatters burning holes in my jacket. Before it could hit my skin, I ripped the outer layer off and threw it away as the sleeve was dissolved like the street. I cut down another street as it landed against a wall high up a building, pressed down and then sprang off down at me. My mind saw where he was going to land, right on top of me so I changed my trajectory as well. I saw another half wall, jumped up on it and vaulted sideways back towards the street. The large creature landed where I would have stood as I twisted in midair, feet planting on the large skull symbol on his back for a moment before kicking off. It sprawled around trying to get me, flipping sideways itself over on its back but I missed all the scrambling greasy haired legs and hands all at once. It growled frustrated as I hit the roof of a car, rolled and landed back on the roadway in a full dash. "Web Net!" It called out again.

I looked over as it bent its disgusting rear section over, I saw the spindle sack at the end of its ass point right at me. It seemed to bulge up and then explode a wet bulb of webbing, my eyes wide at what that was going to do. I threw my arm to my left, kicked off the ground and corck screwed through the air at my speed, one whipping past me and three more right behind it. My body contorting as I too was yelling out in adrenaline fueled determination, my legs flipping over and the last one gliding past between the Y of my legs and body. The attacks slammed into cars, the globs exploding out in large nets that cocooned them to the ground they were parked on. My feet hit the ground, I stumbled for a second and then was back off running. The monster kicked to its feet, traversing the vehicles and hot on my heels. I threw my arm back and fired a few bullets back in a wild aim, still managing to land a few hits in its face again. They bounced off the mask, making him only angrier as it barreled into a parked car with a slam. I swerved into an alley way, narrowed enough for me and hopefully not for him. Too bad my rash turn between two buildings netted me a dead end by a twenty foot steel fence barrier.

I skidded to a stop and tried to get back onto a street I heard a roar and then something hit me in the back like a swipe, it kicked me like car accident. I felt my back explode into pain as I was lifted off the ground. I soared up, flailing around in a yell as I slapped off a dumpster. I skidded across the ground, rolled sideways and stumbled to my feet. My pistol came forward but a ball of web caught my fist and sealed it in a cocoon of white that burned my hand with a dull heat. A second caught my shoulder, spinning me around as the weight doubled there pulling me down. A third hit me dead center in the chest, lifting me off the ground and sent me a second time up into the air. I hit the fence, rattling off the chain link ten feet off the ground. Suspended, I felt the crushing tense webbing against my chest start to harden, breathing was almost impossible. The monster arachnid clawed its way towards me along the walls and ground, squeezing through the alley way to get closer. I aggressively writhed around trying to break free, the guttural growling getting closer as I took my only free arm and started to cut at the webbing. I sawed through the gap between my hand and the fence, the thick material like hot glue. That face, chomping mouth and stretching venom sack fangs stretched out at me as I hacked away. Dumpsters fell over, trash cans went flying, brick getting gouged out I slashed as hard as I could. It came within striking range and my last attempted cut wildly lashed out, driving a point through the closest eye. It hit, sunk in an inch and the beast cried out angrily, rearing its head back and then chomping down on my knife arm, the two points of those mandibles puncturing through.

I roared out in pain, blood pouring from my arm as bubbling green slime seeped out with it. My arm felt like it was catching fire going up to my shoulder, I ripped my arm away and felt the flesh tear itself in the process. In retaliation my knife came back down in a hard stab with all of my strength and embedded the knife an inch in. This time it stuck and the spider abomination threw its head back wildly trying to pull at the steel in one of its eyes. It fell out as my arm went limp, the sensation in it deadened and my brain suddenly went haywire with red and black flashes. The spider poised above me as the knife popped out of its eye, the gouge there as well as empty gaze of rage. The intent clear of what was coming next, a wide open mouth in drooling salivation nearing my head with a heated, putrid exhale blowing in my face. "See...you...in hell." I spat my last words.

"VENGFUL DAGGARS!" I heard a voice yell out from above me.

A dozen throwing daggers shot down from above my head, trailing orange light behind each pummel and drove themselves deep into the entire middle, large back end and face of the monster. It squirmed out screaming in pain as a flash of something in what looked like leather clad armor and a whipping black canine tail out the back flashed past with a streak of steel and flames. The monster's face split in two in a perfect thin line and then without a second more sound burst into nothing but energized particles. My head sagged down, the form wavering like a marriage before my very eyes. A hood covered its head, the tail scanned the ground in a wave as it lifted is slightly curved blade up and slid it into a hefty black leather scabbard on the back. As it turned to look at me, it seemed to have an elongated face like the muzzle of a dog and narrowed orange eyes looking up at me. That was about the last thing I remembered before darkness swallowed my consciousness.


	4. What Is At Stake

This world will be mine, it was only a matter of time. That is the simplicity of it all. There is no question in my mind at all of what I shall have because I know it will be so. I watched this world from on top of a office tower building, the wind blowing my black cloak across to my left, seeing what will be mine soon enough. I surveyed my future property and the lives I will control, all of them slowly getting into their daily commune to their rat work jobs, never once looking up to the top of this tower to see their future ruler above them waiting to take control. It would be no different since they were mindless enough.

You might protest the fact I speak don't you? Why you know I am right. You know you are mindless. You follow pieces of cloth on a pole to death and die for it, you believe in leaders who blatantly lie, you idolize past times of ignorance and bigotry as 'the glory days'. You live in bliss of the horrors around you, live uninteresting lives anyway and go home to waste your life watching the television to rot your minds. Those who aspire for more are just there to make themselves feel better that they do more than just wallow in stupidity and act superior to you the rest of the group even if they don't show it they know they are better than you. At least with me running things, you'll all be equal. Equally working to my whims and given much needed direction.

My name is Railius. The name given to me when I was created by many lords ago was a simplistic name that meant simply 'power' and that is what I am and crave. Control and power of all those around me. No one is ever my equal because that would be redundant. More powerful than I and that is a threat. Weaker is easier since I can control that. Hence why I have the hoards of Darths at my side and they are more than a match for most human threats. Enough of them and they can bring down any Digimon that gives me trouble. The castles in my world will tower into the sky, monuments to my power and influence and but for now I had come to this world to take it for myself.

So much is unknown about me and that is the way I like it so I'm not going to give you the honor of knowing even the slightest about me. It is beneath me to even to soliloquize my mental prowess to you as it is but for the sake of telling you what you will experience soon enough. All you need to know is I am a Darth. It is as simple as the word sounds. Nothing fancy about a word that means either chaos or death from where I am from. We weren't always called that. We originally part of the Order, those tasked with maintaining the order of the Digital World. While there were those with being content of keeping things balanced and unchanging, we wanted to change the world a little bit to make it more interesting. Things worked fine but with a few...over embellishments we were shunned for our creativity. When asked to stop we appeared to be and continued to throw changes. Eventually we were threatened to be thrown from the order for the sake of balance. So a internal struggle for power of the group was inevitable. Since we were so few in number, we became over powered and cased into the Dark Ocean all for being different. Is that fair? So a few places were destroyed, never to be seen again and maybe a few evil Digimon gained power. At least it was different and not boring fairness of power. Maybe we were convinced by those Digimon we helped create and assisted them with more power if they gave us suitable offers. Still it worked on both ends since all these do gooders showed up.

As I stood looking down at my new property, someone was not as content with the vision of the future. Standing behind me to my left was the mastermind of all of what would be to come. A true manipulator of the evil incarnate, in ragged red robes through only which his yellow eyes gleamed out from under his hood out to the world in front of him. Hands either crossed into the wide tattered sleeves or reaching out to kill his opponent, he floated silently up to the ledge to look down with me. The indiscriminate markings along the sides of his robe and the pure gold buckle that held it together gave him the wonderful sense of dread as his leathery blackened purple demon wings flapped slightly he rose up to stand on the ledge with me. He was Daemon, the Mastermind of Darkness.

I had come across Daemon when he first fell from the sky in the Dark Ocean. Defeated by a simple portal opening by a DigiDestined, in his first moments he swore vengeance upon all those who bore the title and upheld a Digivice. I took it upon myself, even though I was distastefully weaker then, to offer my services in such a task. Soon legions of cast out Darths from the Digital World rose behind me, making me one of their prime leaders. Through the studies of what we had available to us in this world that we were exiled to, we came to rise with powers conjured from the depths of the ocean itself and found our way to the past. Once it was opened, we came to your world now to take what would be ours in time regardless. "Railius." Daemon's growling but soothingly evil voice, "Tonight will begin our world as we see it."

"I still I don't know why we do not strike now." I looked over at him, "This world is ours already why not just take it?"

"In time we will." Daemon assured with a sinister soothing tone, "This world will be ours for the taking if all goes well tonight."

"All of Heighton View Terrace will be gone." I laughed, "All I need is a few precious minutes and then be flame."

"Our strike will be absolute but timing is key Railius." Daemon turned to me, "You must wait for the precise moment."

"Precise?!" I demand, "You know who those children are I can kill them right now!"

"You will wait Railius." Daemon simply stated.

I turned to him with my need bared at him, fists clenched tight enough to suffocate any human being in a mater of moments. "What is there to be secretive about?!" I growled, "Look around you these humans are our slaves and vermin under our presence as we speak! We are going to destroy this world why not start now! I will show you!"

I flicked my hand out and my cursed blade shone through my hand, materializing instantly. I got on the ledge and lept off to show Daemon exactly what I mean. Before I could unleash my presence to the world a hand caught my throat and my downward momentum stopped abruptly. Back onto the roof I came and was held up with the curled long fingers of Daemon, him looking up at me as he held me up above his head with the same dead look through his hood. "Are you truly that foolish Railius?" He demanded as he squeezed even tighter.

"Foolish?!" I rasped out through the pressure, "We are more powerful than any human being..."

"And what did that power do for you last night?" He shook his arm once as if I was a common mongrel, "Gennai got away and one human killed two of your kind. Again, reckless."

Daemon drew his arm back and threw me down, dashing me across the ground with the force to crack the cement. My body winded I did not even try to get up as he was already standing over me as I came to a stop on the ground. "He is human." I sneered, "Nothing more."

"This one is different." Daemon lifted me off the ground and shoved me back to a wall, "Gennai will use him against us where he cannot go. Even our acolytes don't know who he is. That makes him a problem. Correct him."

I snarled at that, the order while against my own interest an indisputable one. Daemon could end me in an instant and he never took insubordination from any creature. I also could not allow something like him to walk around bothering my plans. "Fine." I agreed with an angered sigh. "I'll just have to make it fun somehow."

"Once we eliminate the DigiDestined you can have all the fun you want."


	5. A Dangerous Question

I woke up with a gasp at the realization I was alive and inside. The ceiling I remembered. It was my apartment. I could tell from the white tiled roof, black lines between them and the build in globe ceiling light. I rose off my single captain sized bunk bed against the wall, I sat up slowly as the covers came off my body in a slow slide as I scanned the room. Desk was all there, the upgraded Dell and paperwork all there from last night. Filing cabinets all around the room, neatly organized file folder full to the point I might need another soon. From the open window I heard the city buzz, tweets of birds and the sharp beeping of car horns breaking through the residential zone's static. The light shone in bright as I rubbed my eyes with my fingers. It couldn't have been a dream could it? When I looked at my left arm, bandaged up with blood stained white wrappings, I was not lucky enough to think anymore it was just a nightmare.

I got out of bed, the toll of last night's fight had taken over since the adrenaline was all gone. My fists were bruised, black splotches on the knuckles and I felt the sting of cuts. My chest throbbed in pain, a breath in had a sting to it each time. The back of my head was crusty, the cut there healed but left a brown stain on the white pillow case. My spine tingled and if I leaned the wrong way I felt a jolt of lightning shoot up it. I rolled my legs over to the side, they were heavy as tree trunks from the sprinting. I felt groggy, my stomach was raw and churning cravings for food as I stood up. I held my stomach with my hand, feeling linen raps around it for my ribs or support. On the night stand there were a bunch of prescription pain killers, muscle relaxers and other first aid kit items that looked used. Some kind of primitive bowls, a mortar bowl with residual grinder powders inside it. Someone did some medical work on me. Who? "Wait outside I'll talk to him." A voice from the living room probably answered that question, "If he wakes up."

I walked over to the door, seeing my pistol on the desk near the keyboard. There was a small pile of brass bullet casings there as well, probably most of my shots I fired but I didn't get them all. I was about to reach for the gun when I thought to myself why would I use that? I strolled on over to the heavy closet door, reached in the side and pulled out a pump action shotgun I kept ready for emergencies. Japan had strict gun laws, but I don't follow those ones in my line of work in case you didn't notice. I pulled the action back lightly and indeed a bright red shell of buckshot was there. Good. With it in hand, I walked out of my bedroom into the living room.

I had a pretty good apartment for Japan's standards, lots of room even if i was here all by myself. I didn't have a lot of in the way of electronics, just a basic TV, a stereo raido CD player on the shelf beside it and a laser disk player next to it. I was more into the wall of bookshelves that rapped around the apartment where would have been a blank wall, I read a lot more books. Some of them were in Japanese, some in English, some in Russian, a few in Cantonese and a handful in Farsi which was from the Middle East. Pre-reading for some stuff on the horizon you don't want to know a I was a non-fiction buff along with some history texts, technology books and some on fishing and mountain climbing. The large bay windows in front of the main balcony was letting a little bit of the mid afternoon light in, the blinds casting horizontal beams of pale yellow across the room. Next to the couch was the person called Gennai, turning back to see me brandishing a shotgun in my hands. He looked a little nervous and that became concerned when I slid the pump action all the way forward to lock the first shell in place. I looked a little haggard, sore and looking for answers. "I'm going to keep this simple." I spoke up finally, "I have a few questions."

"Go ahead?" He offered looking between me and my weapon.

"One what the hell happened last night." I held up a finger from the pump, "Two, what the hell are they or you are for that matter and last can you make a pot of coffee?"

Gennai looked up to think of a good way to answer all of that request. "Well one you managed to change the future for all of us." He started, "Two, they are what are trying to make it worse by the worst means possible and lastly yes I can make a very good cup of coffee."

"Good because I might need to sit down for this."

I turned to my open kitchen and started making myself breakfast, Gennai working with the coffee pot to the best of his ability. I whipped up some eggs with chopsticks, got some last nights chicken teriyaki out and gave them a quick heat up and made some minute rice to balance out the meal a little bit. I came over and there was Gennai with two cups and a pot of the black stuff. I took a seat, placed the shotgun off to the side and started to eat. Shoveling the food in, I didn't say anything else. "Aren't you going to ask me anything?" Gennai asked after a few moments.

"I'm eating." I answered with a mouthful of food, "Start with mundane stuff like who you are."

While Gennai was sitting there completely perplexed at my actions, all of this was deliberate on my part. I was sitting across from him, I was keeping calm. I was playing it like it was any other day. It made him uneasy and that is what I wanted. It would likely make him start to just admitting things. Then again, he might have looked human but if wacko the white haired clown last night was any indication he might not have been human either so who knew. It seemed to work, like he was trying to figure me out and finding nothing to see. His eyes kept darting to me and then down again like he was searching the table. "Archer right?" He clarified glancing up from the table.

"Yup."

"I can't find anything." He whispered to himself, "How can that be?"

"What does that mean?" I asked curious.

"I...I...nevermind." Gennai hand waved me off and sat up, "To answer your question my name is Gennai. I am a Guardian of the Digital Order, a protector of balance to the Digital World."

"Yes those are words." I indicated that didn't make sense.

"I'm not from your world as you might have summarized."

"Had a guess but okay." I shrugged, "What's this Digital World thing?"

"Didn't you not notice the Digimon who attacked you?" Gennai was almost bewildered, "What could you have though it was?"

"I don't know." I gave another shrug getting into the chicken a little more, "Might have been some kind of demons from hell for all I know or all those crazy Japaneese legends were right all along."

Gennai was looking down again, eyes scanning right to left rapidly, shaking his head before glancing up at me. "Well they are as I am from the Digital World." He continued, "This might be hard to believe but there is a world in parallel with yours, a separate world entirely comprised of nothing but digital information in physical form. It has been in existence for us for tens of thousands of years. For you maybe a few decades at most."

I put my chopsticks down, placing them neatly in a row on the plate. I crossed my fingers, leaned in slowly and gave him an obvious look. "Yes Gennai that is very hard to believe." I answered with an obvious tone, "But then again so is shooting someone in the head and they burst into technicolor flames right before my eyes. Kinda self evident. Who were they?"

"Those were the Darths." Gennai answered grimly, "Their leader here right now is Railius, a former Guardian of the Order twisted by darkness and a want to replace the Digimon Masters."

"Who?" I started to sound like a broken record.

"Its too complicated to get into for now but I need to know something." Gennai answered quickly, "Its about my mission here right now and it is getting to the point where it might be too late."

"Spit it out." I allowed picking up the coffee.

"Who are you?"

I stopped mid sip. I stared into the small pool of coffee, the dark liquid a suitable metaphor for my bitter vast void of existence. You can't look into it unless you were inside it and even then its almost impossible to see the answers you seek. My expression elevated above stern, he leaned away like he had offended me as the mug came back down onto the coaster. Good coffee though. "That is a very dangerous question." I replied succinctly.

"Why?" He pressed.

Okay solider, if you're going to say anything remember your briefing all those years ago. Vague but concise. "You saved my life so I'll give you a bone." I answered, "You say those Darths came from a dark place in your world? I deal with those dark places on this world, stopping threats before they come from the pits they crawl in. That's what I do these days."

"You're...a solider?" Gennai asked.

"Since I was seventeen." I let a little bit of pride slip in there, "I'm more of a preventative agent now. I stop problems before they hurt people."

Gennai looked hopeful for a moment, leaning in a little more. "Then can you help me?" He asked with wiide eyes.

I didn't answer for a moment, looking at him with a little harder question as to what he was about to ask. I survived last night from a lot of skill but all the Irish in history wouldn't come close to how lucky I was to live through that night. My arms crossed over, those bandage raps on my arms with the brown stained blotches there and the rest of my wounds came though where I bled as a reminder of my humility to what I experienced. "I wasn't exactly effective." I started with a hand out, "As much as I owe you twice, I don't think I'd survive a third. I'm not exactly a superhero."

Gennai slumped into his seat slowly, light draining from his eyes with dismay. "Archer I can't stop Railus's plans by myself." He started to beg, "I need someone to stop the attack on Highton View Terrance."

My eyes narrowed and my ears perked. "Attack?" I echoed, "Those Darths are going to openly attack this city? How many are they?!"

"He has maybe a dozen or so with him but when the Digital gate you saw opens again he will be able to summon an army of them to decend upon this city!" Gennai quickly explained.

"How long has he been in the city?" I wanted to get a timestamp.

"Maybe two weeks before me." Gennai guessed again, "Total maybe a month."

My own eyes started scan the table, blinking shut taking snap shots of recalled thoughts. Rumors of new groups, plenty of pinned words on cork boards with faces of suspects. Raised threat levels of people who were nothing but amateurs the month before. I stood out of my chair and walked over to the left side of the living room, Gennai following me. I reached the door next to my bedroom and opened it to my digital nerve center.

The door opened after I punched in a code to a disarm panel on the wall. The door buzzed open, the magnetic lock disengaging and I walked inside the extra cold server filled room. Wall to wall were boxes with blinking lights and dozens of wires connecting them all together made by technicians way up on the ninth level of nerdy than I would ever want to be. In the middle of the room was a desk, three monitors and a keyboard with all of the leads paring down into the back of the bevvy computer tower behind it. Beeps and whirring were going off all around me but I flicked the monitor on and the screen booted up. I typed in the password as the robed fighter came into the room. "What is-."

"Remote server to a surveillance database." I answered, "Something about what you said about a month ago."

"What about it?"

Gaining my access, I worked through case files and reports on people of interest out there we had been watching. A lot of it coming from governments who want to mess with our networks from afar or slicing in domestically but one group popping up seemed like a novelty before. Now it was the first thing on my mind. "About a month ago there were some hackers we had been checking up on." I answered, "Lot of anarchist and general shit disturbers online. They've been nothing to worry about until a month ago."

"What happened a month ago?" He inched in further.

"Almost overnight these guys start hitting way harder encrypted sites." I pulled up files, "Trying to hit banks, government servers and online accesses to major companies. Broke firewalls like nothing and the only way they could was if they had some major influx of capital for some really high end hardware."

"What makes you think they are with Railius?"

"They call themselves Datalists." I answered flicking through a few people of interest, "And now they talking about going completely digital. Its like they became a cult or something. We don't have any records of bank transfers, its like the money and equipment came out of nowhere."

Gennai started to walk around the room a little more, reaching out to touch some of the wires with fascination, running his palms on the dusty tops of the server boxes and listening closely to the hums. I took a few careful looks back at him, curious to what he was doing. "What?" I asked, "Never seen computers before?"

"These make up my world." Gennai answered mystically, "This alone would make an island from my world and probably does...which one?"

"Worry about the mysteries of the universe later." I pointed at him, "Its going to take me some time to get a plan of action. You need to do something for me."

"Which is?"

"I need a weapon." I demanded, "One that can take out one of those Darths."

Gennai thought to himself, fingers on chin before the light bulb went off on the top of his head. He reached behind his back and produced a small scabbard, looked like a dagger of sorts. Medieval style. He pulled it out and presented it to me, yup old school no frills narrow dual edged dagger. Six inches long, leather strand thread grip and a shiny brass hilt and pummel. I twirled it to myself, through my fingers and back into my palm with a flip. "I was thinking on the spectrum of something that shoots something."

Gennai held his palm over top of my hand, a flashbulb of florescent blue that turned to deep red in the next second. The blade melted like molten plastic in my hand and I would have dropped it if it didn't snap back into a completely different shape and it was my knife from last night! The good old pig sticker Kabar knife shone a light tinge of red through the metal. I tossed it to myself a few times, measuring the balance and weight. "Try that next time." Gennai offered with a smile, "I'll see what else I can get. Use this if you need to communicate with me."

In his other hand came a smaller device than I expected. It was a very rough bronze thing the size of a wrist watch without the arms. Crude screen in the middle like those stupid wrist games the kids were wearing over here all the time without the straps. There was a thick black antenna on it too, a few buttons on the side and the same symbols on it that were on Gennai's amulet. There was a small port on the side, looked like a headphone jack. "Its a crude prototype but it will help me keep track of you." He explained more, "You can contact me with it by clicking the screen when you have something."

"This will take time." I said going through files and compiling the information, "I'll check in with you when I get a lead and I'll start barking up some chains. Might get lucky."

"We will need it." Gennai said heading towards the door, "I will have my friend keep an eye on you."

"Your friend?" I asked looking back, "Who?"

"The one who saved your life." Gennai said with a farewell glance.

"Hey wait a second who are you talking about?" I said getting up as a download was going.

As I made my way to the door a flash of light came and a snapping of discharging sparks went off. Everything electrical went haywire for a few seconds, screens and lights flickered. Just as fast as I got to the door and through it, Gennai was gone with a distinct smell of ozone hanging in the air with small particles of white fading away. "Leave me in suspense huh?" I said shaking my head, "Forget it. I got work to do."


	6. Who Chooses the Chosen

In the plains of the Intranet of the Digital World, the universe blurred past me as I saw the fates of thousands decided before me. If you could see what I was seeing, even the most adept poet would fail to find words to describe the surroundings. Where I stood was a transparent glass like ground, below me the stretching blue sphere of the Digital World, the intrinsic formations of specific and sometimes even random land formations that came together in a twisted way a perfect world of ever evolving and forming wonder. High above it appeared I was, I could see even from here the world forming and shifting in the most enigmatically ways but always it seemed to function despite the improbability. The landmasses that stood out from the deep blue oceans had the details of design by creation, simply formed by random data from the Human World. The landscapes even from this height were randomized and yet distinct. Deserts turned into tundras, rainforest into flatland and compact cities of every shape, design and era defined the intrinsic nature of the Ditigal World. Within it all, the fully realized idea of a world such as ours, housed millions of Digimon of all creeds, shapes and sized. Their level of power also diversified to the same levels. Some powerful others weak and all shades of between. Many of them lived in small villages, tried to occupy the seemingly derelict cities or even lived near or in the temples which were erected following the differing lore they believed or knew about their world they lived in.

The world below us turned as we remained high above that sphere in the expands of what we called the Intranet. However above if you looked up you would have seen a fantastical sight. Ribbons of data trails twisting in the sky with the information of millions of bites of data twining like DNA flying past at hyper sonic speed. Shooting back and forth were bursts of white light information packets blasting past in opposite directions. Once and awhile, one of these streams of information would jettison off their suspended rivers of data and shoot into the Digital World itself like a comet. Instead of destruction, the data would disperse into the atmosphere and new bits of data would become part of the world in a matter of mere moments. It was why the Digital World was they way it is; random information forming into random variations of Digimon which survived for non random reasons. Evolution if you will except vastly increased distinction between creatures. This was a common sight for myself when it came to this place I had not been to in a very long time.

My name is Gennai. There isn't a lot I could tell you about myself to be simply honest that you already know. I was the leader of the Order, the same that protected and kept the balance of good and dark in the Digital World from my time. I could not tell you how long I have lived, only to say that I have been around as long as the Digital World has been. What I am is technically a Digimon if you must know but the sad thing is I am more like you than I am of a Digimon. I look human. I sound human. I have no real altered characteristics that make me stand out. If I were to take off this tan monk robe of mine and placed on some normal clothes I would blend in with any crowd. There were things about me that would tell you right away I wasn't human in the slightest as well. I kept my sword on my side at all times, the golden scabbard housing the silver blade claymore that was my only real weapon and used many a time. I stood most of the time with my fingers intertwined and locked gripping into the other hand while my robes covered them up, keeping myself in a meditative or reflective state most of the time with a calm look emanating from my demeanor. However the three in front of me were far more than I could ever imagine to be.

In Human mythology there have been gods to have been known to be as those that control the fate of the world and of those in it like puppeteers. Every action manipulated by these gods for whatever reason may be. These Digitmon in front of me however were far more than that and were those that I had to answer to now for what I had told them. These Digimon were known as the Mastersminds of Destiny. The Masterminds of Destiny were the first Digimon to rise from the beginning of the Digital World to the levels of power that of Gods. One could strip flesh from bone with cutting wind, drain seas and set the very air on fire for he controlled the elements. The second could command the forces of nature for she was the force of it. The last could conjure powers from mere thought itself, commanding digital information to bend to his world. Now they watched over the world with a watchful eye, seeing that the Digital World continues along at least a measurable form of progress to a stable world. While they were not omnipresent as you would think of a god, they became aware of events by being mystically tied to the Digital World. Therefore it was in their best interested to keep the ballence and the Digital World the way it was or they too be corrupted, or destroyed or made to turn on each other.

The Master of The Elememnts was Yamatomon and an imposing Data Type Digimon that towered like a god of Olympian Myth. You could never see his face since it was hidden behind the amrored helm that he wore that molded to his thick box like snout and jaw to indicate he was a dragon. The only thing you would see were his surprising blue rounded eyes from deep inside it, giving him a faint bit of calm when you looked up at him at near nine feet. His body was dragon like in nature, the steel like plate scales, thicks as coins overlapping to form a natural armor but over that he already wore medieval style armor plating over his chest that molded to his muscular form for that much more added protection. The upper torso was that of a human but the legs that of a dragon, the digigrade legs thick as tree trunks and the muscles tensed holding up the weight of such a tall being. His lower torso was less armored, instead of going for the chain mail loincloth and plated kilt before the golden greaves. All of the armor plating was embroidered with varying tribal like talismans or simply hanging from varying parts of his armor. The one soild red emerald that was around his neck the centerpiece to all of his wares. You could see the roaring fire inside the emerald itself swirling on the perimeter of a small ocean of water that too spun around the opposite direction, within that what looked like a windstorm and at the very core was a hardened orb of brown that was shifting, cracking and repairing in a constant seizure of an earthquake. That all worked ot signify the powers he was in constant control of. For how he behaved, he was the more militant of the Masterminds and made no qualms about hiding it. A fearless warrior but had a kind streak when he felt like it, he was outspoken from what I remembered.

The Mistress of Nature was Giamon and she was much different than what you would preconceive. She stood much smaller, maybe at five feet but you could see the upon further inspection that from behind that heavy and earthy brown robe hid too black almond like eyes and a smooth face with feel of the stalk of a rose. Her nose was barely there, only two dots between her eyes which when she breathed you could hear the air flowing in when she took a deep breath. Her lips were barely visible, a thin slit with two small ridges parted to show a small set of pointed teeth that commonly formed a passive smile as if she mildly amused at all times. When she blinked you could see the clicking of her eye lids snap back from the top corners and then snap away as quickly as you saw the shell like casing. If you ever saw her hands they looked human, albeit very dainty but they too were this sharp light green color and minus fingernails. The aura around her felt of constant spring and anything she touched, if she wanted it wasn't spontaneous or without control, would spawn plant life that was already there or make the current flora grow rapidly. Giamon could easily control anything about nature as well, like commanding plants to grow, entrapping vines, poisonous barbs and all the other of the either joys or despairs that nature had to offer. Her personality was that more of the thinker and planner and most wise of the three. Something to do with the collective intelligence of the world's oldest plants and the inherent wisdom they had. Very scary how smart she was but she was also the most understanding of the three.

The Master of Technology was Infimon, a technological type of Digimon that resembled that of halfway between an android and a supercomputer mixed with a little bit of a mage of some kind. He was maybe six feet in height but he was skinny for his kind. Letting that stature fool you would probably be your last mistake if you ever tried to trifle with him. His limbs were solid robotic arms in the form of thin skeleton arms with steel tubes instead of muscle structure. Over that were coverings made of a machined reactive armor that gave definition and protection to the vital joints of his limbs. The same could be said of his legs but they were more heavily armored and his feet were just armored boots. All of his armor was thin though which made him faster than you would perceive. In his hand he always carried his staff which was a metal like walking stick, gears and chips embeded all along it with wires twisting around from the base to the top which ordained a rather funny looking plug you would see go into a wall socket. Just above the yellow prongs you would see an ever sparking ball of energy, a faint warning everlasting. If you ever saw his face, hiding behind the shadow of his royal maroon hood with cloak, you would see a red band of a visor covering his pale gray eyes you might see if you got even closer. That was if he let you. The rest of his face was covered over with a metal lower mask covering everything just below his eyes. I have heard there is a full face under all that metal but something happened to Infimon that damaged his face to the point where people would look away in disgust of what he had become. Shame, he was a good Digimon. Probably out of all of the Masterminds he was the most outgoing and helpful, a little bit of a fast talker and wouldn't shut up if he didn't get a cut off or glared at to finish up by Yamatomon. If I would call Infimon a genius he would probably be very upset with me selling him short. Infimon could wield the power of the entire Intranet and that was acquiring of knowledge. Anything in the human world or digital he could get his mind into. He was their eyes and ears to what was going on in the Digital World and more recent the Human world. Infimon had been trying to get information on the human world but unlike ours, your databases are a little bit harder to crack. "Gennai this is indeed troubling." Giamon sighed softly in her soft child like voice, "This does not do well for the Digital World if Daemon tries to stop the Order from choosing the DigiDestines of Earth."

"I fail to see how you three cannot see that your more direct help is needed." I said as respectively as I could, "Daemon and his Darths..."

"This threat may be real as you have shown us but we have already taken as much action as we can." Yamatomon stated, "As our bond to the Digital World we cannot directly interfere. That is why we founded the Order and placed you in charge Gennai."

This may sound strange that three of the most powerful Digimon choosing not to do anything directly against Daemon but their reasons were founded in logic and the very stability of the Digital World. To understand it you must come to realize that every Digimon in the Digital World is literally connected with the world the same way every bit of data in a computer makes up the system that is operating. The majority of Digimon don't make much of a difference them being at the lowest rung which was Baby or Rookie, the first two steps of the ladder. A lot never make it long enough to see Champion let alone Ultimate or Mega. Once you are reaching heights like that, you draw in a lot of energy from the Digital World. When a Digimon dies, or what could be considered death, its data is scattered and redistributed and they are reborn. Think of it as reformatting a file. Every Digimon has their connection to the Digital World and its unique. They could be naturally charged with the care of an area, the operation of a structure that other Digimon use or a direct connection with the environment. The higher up the ladder you go however, the more of a tremendous impact. The Masterminds themselves were so powerful, that if one of them were to be injured or even destroyed the impact on the Digital World would be disastrous. It would be on the order of killing a God of the Roman era, like Prometheus or Odin of the Viking Era and their respective responsibilities were suddenly vacant. If they were to go to the Digital World directly, they could only go one at a time and for only a short time before they would have to return to their realm. Anymore or any longer was too much of a risk to the Digital World's stability. The Order was placed in charge of being their servants in the Digital World, making sure the balance between light and dark was kept neutral. "We aren't prepared to deal with Daemon this early let alone what will happen at the time we choose the DigiDestined!" I explained, "When the rest of the Darths come..."

"Archer isn't an acceptable choice Gennai?" Giamon broke in.

I stiffened up slightly, not really wanting to bring Archer that much more into this. "He is different than anyone I would have expected." I shook my head, "He is more cynical but energetic. Young but worn down. An unsettling personality but a formidable warrior."

"Is he a danger?" Infimon finally spoke up in his rapid fire but clear statements.

"I don't know a lot of Archer's past as of today." I continued, "Can you..."

Infinimon lifted up his staff with both hands and unceremoniously stabbed it into the transparent ground. An aura of sparks shot out around where the plug hit and the thin arcs of lightning curled off the ground and formed a small cage of energy around him before it shot off into the air like a lightning bolt in reverse. It held its crackling display as the bolt shot directly into the expanse of the Intranet above us. The display kept up until Infinimon stood up, his visor flashing with data streams before it instantly downloaded into his head from the implants he had. "Archer." Infinimon began, "Birth twenty eight Earth years ago. Military. Special Forces. Black Operations. Classified."

"What does all that rambling mean?" Yamatomon crossed his huge arms in a groan.

"You said Black Ops." I probed at the words that caught my attention, "What does that mean?"

"Slang term of clandestine soldiers." Infimon mused with a hand gesture, "Non recorded operations to be denied. Spying. Infiltration. Assassination. To name a few. Archer's files locked. Can't get at them. Yet."

That brought up a whole different set of thoughts. While I wasn't familiar with such things that humans did to other humans, the very fact what Archer was disturbed me to a level. "A killer from the shadows?" Yamatomon asked angrily, "That is who you chose to help you?"

"He agreed to help." I defended quickly, "Without question. He stops threats before they hurt people. His own words."

"That does not validate your reason." Infimon cut in, "A creature such as this barely likely to have any compunction to good nature."

"We need him now." I firmly insisted, "We don't have a choice."

There was a silence from them as they looked to each other, Yamatomon looking back with a hard gaze being the one who decided these kind of things. "For now." He conceded bitterly, "Lets see what he does under your direction. Then we will decide his fate in turn."

I remained quiet before I turned away from them disappointed, raising my right hand and opened up a shimmering oval, the distorted image of a rooftop of a random building in Odiba appearing there. "Gennai we know these children are the best chance for our world." Giamon stated in her everlasting calm child voice, "You think less of us for wanting to preserve the world you swore as well to protect against all threats?"

I stopped right before the barrier before my our plane and the human world. I glanced back, a thin frown on my face. "Archer may well be the only reason they or we have a future at all." I answered.

I then pushed myself into the portal, hoping that my words didn't fall on deaf ears.


	7. The Shadow Of Server

I continued with my information gathering, even if I didn't exactly feel as if I was alone here. Always that sensation of being watched, more often I was the one who was watching from afar. I remembered Gennai make mention of someone waiting outside I didn't see anyone on the balcony when I looked through the blinds. Still, I couldn't help but feel eyes on me somewhere. With all of that milling around in my head, I took the ball of spinning thoughts and placed them in their own side track of my mind while the main drive was drawing up supporting inteligence. Anything I could find on the Datalists I went after, even if it was tenuous at best. Screen names, emails, message boards and posts, account purchaces all lead me to a pretty large group of supporters. They bounced their IP adresses around a lot, proxy adresses all over the world and went really far out of their way not to let their real identies or locations be known. There were ways though and that would be for some squinty eyed nerds to look for, sending those off as a fast track request. After an hour, a felt a disturbance in the air.

You get used to feeling constances and when disturbances happen. Could be the sounds of specific trees swaying, creaking of old logs, the loss of bird noise when someone approaches. The saying "Its too quiet" is a real thing. Situated in here the air came in a certain way, the colder air causing a draft of warmer air to come in causing a consistant slight breeze. When it was interupted, I turned my head to see nothing. I stood up, taking the knife off the table and walked towards the door. The air shifted back to nomral, a pause in my step for a moment. "Anyone actually in here?" I called out rolling the blade handled around in my fingers.

I stepped back out into the room before a quick head check through the doorway, nothing still. All the same. I came out into the front room again, this time I could smell something was off. Smelt like dusty fur. Someone or something was in here. "Don't play games." I challenged bluntly, "If Gennai left you here to watch me, I want to know who you are."

Some time went past, not backing down as I scanned the room for any clues. "You don't want to talk or something?" I held out my arms, "Here, I'll put the knife down."

I took the knife and layed it on the book shelf, taking a few steps forward to get it out of arms reach. I crossed my arms an kept looking around, again nothing. Was I losing my mind? "Well?" I gestured one more time, "Guess not."

I turned back and there I was staring right back into those two eyes I had seen the night before, narrowed orange honed in on me like beams from a laser. Eye to eye we were the same height but the canine ears perked up over its head about a foot over his head, pointed at the tips with thin black fur though holes in the fabric. The head was mostly cloaked over with a ash gray hood, hard black shadows covering over the face. It had a and matching cloak that went almost all the way down to the floor, dulled iron studs over the shoulders with a fitted plate attaching it to an armor peice. I slid a foot back and shifted my weight away to gain some distance, its human like arms were crossed over, rapped up in leather bindes with studded black leather gautlets all the way up to his elbows. It was humanoid in shape, stood up straight like he was at attention. The chest was under some sort of tight blackened leather chest peice, bandoleers of old kuni style throwing knives over all the pockets and pouches with what looked like little in them if anything. Nothing much to the pants, just some kind of leather and greaves combination hooked on with a lot of belts. The feet were digigrade, the large paws clearly belonging to a wolf of some kind, the same short black hair all the way down to the curved claws at the toes shown. The tail swayed side to side, the arms unfolding to show the thick four fingers and thumb tipped off by a blunt claw. "Here." A smooth male voice came from behind that hood, "What do you want to say?"

"Nice trick." I pointed without missing a beat, "Must come in handy."

Right before my eyes he started to phase out of my sight, splitting into fragmented lines before snapping out of existance. I took a guess and whipped my head around, the same phenominon happening except in reverse leaving him standing exactly the same as before except behind me. Bent space time? Moved to fast for my eye to capture? Illusion? Whatever it was it was impressive. "It does." He answered as bluntly as I would, "What do you want to say?"

"Just wanted to see who you are that's all." I replied with a laxidazed shrug, "Also thanks for patching up my arm and probably the rest of me."

He was silent for the moment, the eyes' glow widening a little bit as the stare wore off to a neutral firmness. "Think nothing of it." He spoke with a swish of his tail sideways, "If nothing else you get to learn from your recklessness."

I didn't have to be that smart to see a bit of condescension, this one came from superiority of authority. "If there wasn't a fence I would have gotten away." I countered, "Still, you came in. Although you didn't save me out of the kindness of your heart did you?"

"Kindness of my heart?"

"Its an expression." I explained, "You didn't do it because you were compelled to do it from a selfless mentality."

"No." He confirmed, "I did it because Gennai asked me to."

"Fair enough." I nodded, "You owe him something?"

"A reward for a service." He said walking around me in an orbit, "He repays me later for helping him. Now he asked me to stay here and watch you."

"Means to an end." I coldly conceded, "What's your name?"

"What good is it to know my name?" He countered me.

"If I have to ask you something I don't want to say 'hey hooded one'." I offered a hand forward.

He slowly took off that hood and mask, both hands pulling the fabric away from the front all the way down the front of his face. He pulled back his ears down and reviled the face of a canine with way more humanoid features than I would have expected. A thick muzzle halfway between a jackal and a wolf, the thin fur and the thick throat and snout indications of both popping through. Those orange eyes slowly faded in the light but they remained as piercing as could be. There were was a scar down the side of his left eye and the expression was that of annoyance he had to indulge my curiosity. "My name is Cyrismon." He answered with a bow of his head, "The Shadowed Ranger of Server."

Up to this point my mind was churning through a lot of information, swelling in the back of my subconscious. Most of it was in the form of my reality slowly encroaching on breaching insanity. Nothing I was seeing was making logical sense but now I was stuck on maybe a sight that threatened the rest of my composure. It was like some audience in the back of my head was losing their collective shit behind two way glass, all clamoring over a hundred panicked questions. My expression changed as they were clawing through my expression, twitches and rapid blinks. I needed to stop it before it went too far. I held up my hand slightly towards him. "Okay." I forced out through my lips as calmly as I could, "Cryismon. I need to do something and not be weirded out okay."

"Weirded out?: He didn't understand the words.

"For the sake of clarity." I hurried along, "I want to get this out of my head so I can get to stopping this attack."

"Very well?" He guessed not knowing what I was getting at."

I reached forward and pressed two fingers into his chest plate, him shifting away as I planted my action there. Apprehention crossed his expression as I did it again, a few more pokes on him on his chest. Okay he was standing there, annoyed now but still there physically. "Can you hand me one of your knives?" I held out my hand.

"Why?" He was confused.

"It will help."

He didn't answer it but his hand when to his bandoleer and slid a dark shard of sharpened steel. He handed it to me hilt first and I picked it out of his grasp. I focused on it, brought it close to my face. I could see the indentations of the metal, the sharp edges and spun the blade around a single finger through the ring at the bottom. This was a metal object from his outfit. He handed it to me. I presented his blade back and closed my eyes, the experiment in my head working so far. I was holding an object from him. Take it from me.

I didn't see his expression but I felt his hand touch mine, pulling a few fingers off the blade as he pulled it from my grasp. I felt the short hairs on his fingers, a scratch of a nail as the dagger was pulled from my grasp. The questions and uncertainty in the back of my mind was quelled for a moment with a simple statement. "He is real." I definitively spoke, "He's real. He. Is. Real."

I opened my eyes and saw he was just slipping the knife back into the bandoleer, question now across his face at what I was saying, his head tilting to the side a little bit.  
"Of course I'm real." He obviously answered, "No less than you."

The thoughts in my head scrambled a little more, fragmenting quickly as the audience of voices died off. It became quiet again in my mind, my hands slowly lowering down with a long exhale out. It was done, my psyche was pacified thought logical truths. The creature before me was real, I wasn't in danger and this didn't matter right now. I came back up with a passive smile. "Sorry just had to do some rewiring up here." I pointed to my head, "Carry on with whatever you're doing. Make yourself comfortable I'll be at this awhile."

With that I turned back into the computer room with a clearer mind, a glance back at showed Cyrismon standing there looking at me with lost confusion. As I took a seat, he came in the door way only to stop himself returning to his look of indifference. Maybe he thought I was crazy, maybe he thought I was different from anyone he ever met. Who knew because he turned from the door and went back into the living room without another word as I typed away.

A few hours went by, noon rolled around and the coffee mug had emptied long ago. Calls were made, people were now shouting into telephones aware of a possible attack because of me. People were being mobilized, intel being collected and the general feeling of a hornets nest kicked swarming around the southern hemisphere for a fight that was to come. Far out of my hands and waiting for files to be downloaded through the phone line, I came back to the front room to see what my guest was doing. Well I stopped dead in my tracks of what I saw.

In the middle of the room Cyrismon was there plain as day but now was passing the time in his own way, practicing taichi on speed with more than enough strikes thrown in, only the sound of the rushing air around him being heard as he moved. Kicks, flips in place, drawing of blades to strike out in a flash of blacken steel all happening in front of my couch in front of the TV. I watched for a few moments with my last sip of coffee swirling around in my cup, impressed at the very alien but understandable martial arts demonstration before me. The digital creature came to a stop in the middle of a backwards strike, seeing me nodding my head. "That how all you Digimon relax?" I asked as I made my way to the coffee pot in the kitchen.

"It is what I do." He answered sheathing a dagger, "I doubt you understand the mind of a warriror."

I filled my coffee cup from Gennai's brew, looking over giving a brief stint of a laugh at that. "I might not be from your world fuzzball but I do know a thing about war." I answered turning back, "Come on, I'll let you do that in a more appropriate place."

The room opened up into a space half dojo half armory. The floor was all fall mats with a raised floor section in the middle. Around it were dumbells, bar bells, squat racks and other weights I used every day. There was a long distance treadmill in one corner, a punching bag hanging from the ceiling across from it. The ceiling had a few chin up bars bolted to the roof for the upper body and cinder blocks on the floor to do extra deep push ups. The walls were more modern, wall to wall combat gear, firearms, knives and a few swords old and newly forged. The room was lit by a few panel lights but under one such light in the middle of the raised mats was a judo based wooden dummy. It was a cherry oak color, wooden dowls poking out on different angles to represent angles of attack to deflect or block outright. Also striking the wooden body hardened fists really quickly. There were a few shelves with more books, mostly martial arts related, war books and biography of Generals and common soldiers. I took off my shoes, kicking them to the corner out of respect to the room I made. Cyrismon followed me in, looking around he knew what this place was as well. "All I know is war." I admitted simply, "I killed my first man before I had my first beer. Ever since then I dedicated myself to know combat in all its details. And those details add up."

I ran my hand along the punching bag, pushing it away with my fingers. As it swung back I drove a snapping punch into it. The thick hide crumpled and the internal bags of sand buckled under the force, bending the entire bag in half for a split second. My mug didn't spill a drop. "I know how to deliver the hardest strike and maintain the rest of my body's balance." I took a sip, "I know how to adapt my style to faster or stronger opponents, prioritizing reflexes or strategy."

A hand ran along the weapons on the wall as I walked around, hearing the echos of every crack of a round firing off from them. The melee weapons, the knives, tomahawks and even the old katanas and newer forged swords I collected had the sharp tone of vibrating metal with the shine of the honed edges in the little light there was in here. "I know all my weapons as well as I understand my abilities." I looked over at Cyrismon, "I know the intended purposes of all of them, their strengths as well as their drawbacks."

When I came to the collection of books, I rested the mug on one of the levels next to Tusn Su's Art of War and Patton's War as I Knew It. I pressed both hands to the spines of far more knowledgeable men who had long passed and this was their only living legacy left. "I read from those who fought battles I had only heard of and heeded their words of hard learned lessons from war." I closed my eyes, "War and conflict is my world. It may be all I know but I know it well."

I pushed off the books and saw Cyrismon was looking around in the room with curiosity, gravitating to the melee weapons for a closer look. "This is my life." I summarized, "Its what I'm good at, for better or worse."

""We Digimon are nothing like you have ever faced I am sure." Cyrismon scoffed at me, "You could not even mount a defense against me.

"Not now I can't." I shrugged taking my mug off the shelf, "I learn enough about you, I promise I will hold my own."

"Is that a challenge?" The proclaimed warrior pointed, "You don't stand a chance. Now or if you had an eternity."

I took a sip looking at him. Was he serious? I put the mug down, walking past him onto the mat looking him dead in the eye. "Not exactly an even match with your little blink move." I pointed back at him, "But I got a few minutes. Could use a little bit of a sparing match."

Cyrismon came up onto the fighting mat with me, standing across from me with a very clear intent on his mind. "How would you like to lose?"

"Whoever knocks the other off the mats." I offered.

"Fine." He said clenching his claws, "Prepare yourself. It won't help you though."

I bowed out of courtesy to my own traditions, fist pressed to my other palm with my fingers over the back of my hand in front of me. Old stance of mutual respect in a dojo. If my fingers were straight up to the ceiling and I was staring right at him, it would be a much different meaning. I swept my foot back behind me, shifting my weight mostly to my back leg and rased all but my toes off the floor. I gave a nod and a two finger beckoning. "Begin." I initiated.

He exploded from his position in a single leaping bound with a growl, fist swung up to drill me in the stomach. I pivoted and spun away, backfist flying to crack off the back of his head as he went past. He lowered his head enough that it missed, ringing a hit off my thigh that kicked my leg out from under me. My arms came up for the impending strike, a side kick came my way meant for my head but caught it leaning back. He spun off the ground and swung a insiguri strike at my head. I rolled over after letting go of his foot, springing off my palms and back to my feet at the edge of the matt, my toes digging in to keep me there with my balance. I cartwheeled sideways along the edge as a direct front kick, landing back on both my feet to his right. Enough of this defensive bullshit.

I slid forward and lead with my own strikes, palms, knife edges and jabs. He twitched, parried or dodged out of the way, slapping my intended hits off. I masked a grab as a strike. If I couldn't hit him, I was going to slow him down as I snagged his armor. I drove myself into him, picking him off the ground because gravity still worded, scooped him up by the legs and drove him back first into the mat with a slam. My arm came up to drive a point home but an elbow came around almost knocking my jaw loose, spit flying. He bucked his hips up and sent me right off him into the air. I tucked up and flipped to my feet, rolling up again with my feet to edge of the mats. Cyrismon kicked up to his feet, shuffling backwards and back jumped both feet at me again to knock me off. I planted my hands and back kicked both feet into his leading paw. In that moment before he would have impacted he snapped out of existence and reappeared beside me with both his feet landing on the ground. His momentum stops. Noted.

With nothing to hit and my momentum still going, I sprung off the floor and landed as a kick meant to punt my head off missed. My feet hit the ground, a snapping kick drilled into my stomach and kicked me head over heels. The brused rips strained more, sharp pain bleeding through me as I rolled into a crouched stance. Driving a wide punch down I caught his arm and drove one of my own into his face. He was getting sloppy, locking his collar and neck up with my hands and used that as a way to drive my knee up into his canine mug. He started to block so I jumped back, spun and whipped out a snap kick to his chest. Landing with a clack of metal and leather, driving him back right to the edge of the mat this time. One hand breifly clutched his chest as he balanced himself on the edge. The Digimon looked pretty pissed off now, a snarl up his face as he came back in a sprint.

A blinding jumping spin kick blew past my head as I moved my head back in a twitch, the momentum continued as his extended limb went to crack my leg in half from below. I kicked off the ground, a back hand spring getting me away. He planted hands into the mat, gripping in and twisted over in a bizarre overhead kick, missing me again but it got him back onto his feet as the fist flew. My forearms blocked, smacked or parried his intended hits, letting the probability of where those strikes were going gauge my responses. Still, raw strength was winning over on his side, a nick of a hit on my chin jarring me back. I twisted away out of a clawing slash leaving him open and a resounding elbow connected cracked off his face. A follow up came but he zapped out of sight, leaving me hitting nothing but air. Come on!

I turned on my feet and threw out a block. Instinct proved right but I caught a fist instead of a kick. A brief instinct of shock came in his eyes that I predicted his move with his arm in my grasp. I drove into him, lifting him off the ground in a shooting scoop and landed with him right on his back with a thud. Then I felt metal on my neck.

Across my throat was a kuni knife, blade up against it. I froze in place as he growled up at me. He had enough when all I was doing was proving my point? Maybe he underestimated me, maybe was holding back? Pressure off the weapon back to my feet with me at the business end of pointed steel, marching me backward. I stumbled off the mat and he didn't pursue pointing at me with one of his blades. "I win." He said keeping his stance at me.

"Guess you do." I answered with my arms out, "Sparing is for learning, not proving who's better."

"There is nothing I can learn from you." He spat putting it away.

I shook my head as he just missed the point entirely. "Fine." I dismissed with a wave off, "Fuck me for trying to learn from someone different for once."

"What could you learn from this?" He scoffed at me further, "That I wouldn't outright kill you if challenged?"

I stopped in mid reach for my coffee. Time for some humility for this idiot. "I learned a lot." I said turning at him, "You started off underestimating me. Its why you were so careless in your attacks."

Cyrismon started to growl as I took the cup of coffee in my hand. Oh, hit a nerve. "You also have a temper." I continued further taking a few more steps, "I land a few hits and you got mad and that little more emotion made you start forgetting your form."

I stepped back up onto the mat as he started to slip back into a fighting stance as if I was going to start this up again, those bared teeth up snarling up at me. I didn't care. "And lastly you would have won." I pointed out my own humility, "You could have knocked me right off my ass, instead you cheapen your own skill by drawing a blade to end it."

"I don't have to expla-"

"You didn't have to." I cut him off right there, "You told me all I want to know about you."

"And that is?"

"You don't care about anyone but yourself."

His eyes went wide, breathing in and out deep and riled. It wasn't arrogance, it was insult on something deeper. "Take that back." He seethed through his teeth, "Take that back or I'll-"

"Kill me." I finished for him, "Go ahead. You're looking for an enemy or you make them. That's all you'll ever find."

In another blink of static he was right up in my face, fist grabbing my chest and a knife now at the base of my chin. The growling canine creature was fired up like the pits of hell itself but his blade stayed at a point of just about to break skin. "I'm here to find someone." He explained quietly with anger laced through every word, "Someone that matters more to me than any other life including my own. Anything else is meaningless to me."

With those words he roughly shoved me back and right off the mat. Still kept my coffee from spilling with a few skittering steps to regain my balance. He stood back to his neutral stance, crossing his arms and blinked out of sight, this time to not reappear. I looked around, knowing he was here somewhere. "I hope you find him," I said looking around to probably no one but it needed to be said, "The people I've lost I can't get back."

I turned and made my way back out the door, a hand resting on the door frame as I fought my own thoughs back. Swallowing my feelings hard, it took a sip of coffee to wash it down. As I left the room, hearing a snap of static behind me but this time I didn't turn around. Maybe he stood there reaching out for me to stop, maybe he was in the same posture of a crossed armed statue; I didn't care. Any chance for common ground was lost; I was done talking to someone who won't listen.


	8. Who Archer Is

Even in the endless garden drifted through lost in the beauty of all of what I brought life to, my mind kept drifting back to the very hollow feeling of uncertainty of the creature called Archer.

My name is Giamon, the Digial Mother of Nature. All things that grow, stem, blossom and spread through the world was my doing. The endless fields of green forests with spattering of vibrant colors of the leaves, flowers and budding saplings to the hot deserts where the simplistic of life still grown under the sands. From the high mountains of flowering flecks of life to garnish the highest peeks to the depths of the see of technicolor marvels. All of it was my own domain I sparked life to and let spread through this world to give it the life I so wished it to be. Long ago I let it develop on its own like a good mother should, through all the helpful and harmful it can cause but there were times I gave it the tender guidance needed from my rhelm and my own way of reaching out to a world I could no longer see in all of its splendor.

I stood in my own personal garden, a macrocosm within of our Temple of Mastery plane, between both the Digital World and the Human World. It was a place unto itself, the three circular wings attached to the main pyramid structure orbited between the two realities over and over again, horizons passing by between day and night. It gave our home a perpetual twilight from the outside. But in here, it was like I was back on our world, among my omni-child of creation. It wasn't the same but I came to accept that.

Drifting through the dense forest. I nurtured into a peaceful and unending blend of meadows, creeks, valleys and rolling hills I came here to think about all sorts of things. New staples to my world to be crafted or conjured to see if it would flourish or fail, seeing how my sentient children Digimon would respond and similar thoughts that crossed my mind. Or playing with all the baby types of Digimon who wandered through my garden at the beginning of their lives; freshly hatched from their eggs in Primary Village on File Island. I love the sound of their squeaks and coos for attention, the wonder of their absorbing eyes, a mother craves such things. A sharp cry came out and my ears zoned in on suffering of out of my children far off in the distance.

I took off from my spot, zipping through the trees with my wings a humming blur as I navigated through each tree where I knew it was. When I came to a stop I found a little green bulb of a baby level Digimon mewling in panic of being trapped in vine it had tripped over. Its wide button eyes and stumpy green legs flailed about, trying in vain to bite it off at the stem level. I landed softly as it looked up at me. "Oh Giamon!" The squeaked at me, "Help me! The vine is gonna eat me!"

I gave a soft sigh as I knelt on down to it, a bemused smile on my face as I tenderly took off the vine with a brush of my palm across it. It recoiled on its own and away. No fault of its own, it was just a baby on her way to play elsewhere. "A simple vine will not hurt you anymore than the grass will." I taught nicely, "Here let me look at your soft foot."

The little Digimon ruffled its palm leaf top of its head as I looked at its stubby hoofed toes and baby like foot with green fuzz over it. There was indeed a very nasty rash there where the vine had skinned it from the twisting. "Let me make that all better Tanemon."

"Yes please!" She implored me.

My had softly reached down, laying a palm over the entirely of her foot while my other touched the ground. The foliage around me groaned lightly as the energy sapped away from it, a little bit it would still have been felt no less. The energy twisted through me and right to the palm of my hand, the rash burn slowly faded out. The young-ling sprang up and beamed her eyes at me. "Oh thank you so much Giamon!" She bounced up and down at me.

"Come now its no trouble." I softly pet the top of her natural fern hair, "You go and play now."

Tanemon blinked and smiled bounding off into the trees again, humming away to whatever friends she'd find out there. No more than a few seconds passed my mind came back to the human a world away clawing back through my mind like an aggressive burn. I couldn't help feel the trees around me lean in as if they wished to know why it was bothering me so much. It brought back a horrible memory. A memory I wish I could wash away but all the world's oceans wouldn't do it. What frightened me about Archer wasn't the past horrors of the breaking of the Great Firewall, but who he may represent. I knew enough of my own world's evils, humans could match or exceed such things as Infimon had told me in the past. An uncertainty in his motives but undoubted bravery in the face of some of my world's terrors was just as indisputable. I needed to know more and only Infimon would be able to find out.

Walking around out of the trees, I came into view of the formed archway of natural stones, supporting roots twining around with the moss acting as mortar to seal it all together. As I floated over and neared it, a cloud started to glow into existence, twisting in a spiral until it hit the sides of the stones and flattened out. The eye of the formation snapped into a hot white as I entered through it and came back to the main temple hallway emerging through the conduit veil.

Entering the main corridor of the Temple of Masters, it was a stark change from my natural sanctuary. The towering trees replaced by high carved columns that lined the wide hallway made up of tan squared stone. The above pointed ceiling stretched higher, statues of many great Digimon we recognized adorned the pillars carved in white marble the larger ones up higher and the smaller ones lower so we could see them. We needed reminders sometimes those who stood for the Digital World, even we forget sometimes over thousands of years. The walls were all carved murals, done by myself or Infimon when he was so inclined, of battles waged and the Digital World's history. All in precise detail as well, you could count the hairs of fur or the number of scales depending on the creature. As I made my way down the hall, caught in an uplifting thought I came to the one mural that dragged me back down accented by my current subconscious. The Progenitor Destined.

Our decision to have children as saviors of our world was one of an unexpected circumstance but one that was needed at the time. Thousands of our years ago these children came to our world by sheer accident in many ways but one of our Order brought them through to us. The discovery could not have come sooner when the Great Firewall was broken and our world was changed forever. The acceleration of time, data being flooded into our world and all the Pandora like changes which came from it. The five of them changed our world. The mural was all five children standing together with their Digimon partners, young faces bright and looking up to the engraved sun in the sky. The one in the middle standing the tallest being the oldest, the leader of them had in his raised fist his Digivice, radiating above his head sharp lines of light against the darkness. A wondrous thing they accomplished which leads to the crushing sadness of it all.

All of them were lost in their last battle.

For all of our knowledge of them, today for us we did not know what happened to them and it reflected in the carved image. The mural was fractured all the way through two of them leaving them unrecognizable to us. Two further in were faded out completely while the last had fissures of cracks through the right side of his face and side of his head. I could only guess to why that was as I ran my hand through the cracks. Letting my hand drop away, heard the distinctive clanging of metal at the far end of the temple. Yamatomon was working his way through his daily forging of his weapons.

Speeding along the corridor, I neared the northern part of the Temple, the large forge room coming into view. Even from a hundred feet away I could feel the heat blasting out from inside. Yamatomon didn't care, he was unaffected by it but as I came up to the edge of the door I could feel myself start to wilt a little bit and my skin dry up very quickly. The large metallic dragon clanged a crude but effective hammer down on sword larger than I was on a large anvil, the entire side of it red hot with sparks flying. Around the large dome were weapons mounted by driven in spikes. Axes, claymores, shields, knives, maces, chest plates and some many more I couldn't being to count a fraction without taking years do to it. Yamatomon didn't need a furnace, he used his own fire for that as his other hand was open palm first spewing fire down onto the metal. "Yamatomon?" I spoke up loud enough for him to hear me.

One last mighty clang and a spurt of sparks then the towering dragon turned about to look at me. "Yes?" He grunted resting the hammer down.

"I've been thinking." I started.

"Do you ever stop?" He teased turning about.

"More than Infimon does." I deflected used to his attitude, "I wanted to ask you about Archer."

"What about him?" The elemental master crossed his arms, "I told you what I think."

"I know you think he is dangerous but that's not what bothers me." I conceded, "It was what Gennai said."

"Gennai is an idealist and naive at the worst times." Yamatomon continued to pass aside, "Both of them are, this one and our time's version.."

"He said Archer was willing to help but what Infimon said about him counters that." I tried to explain, "How can any creature who's steeped and caused so much violence be so quick to help strangers?"

"Personal gain," Yamatomon started to count off on his fingers, "Selfish self preservation. Subversion. Could be any or all of it."

Yamatomon turned back and sent another blast of heat into the blade, a few softer strikes with the corner of the hammer." "I need to find out more about him before I can put my mind to rest and decide." I concluded, "Gennai insisted we give him a better weapon to fight the Darths with."

"I don't make small weapons."

I glanced around the room. I rarely paid attention to the weapons around here but most of them were my height and others were double Yamatomon's. However, there was a very special rack and shelves. They were far more exotic ones, very intricate battle axes, war hammers and a few long swords. However in the middle of all of them was a single straight blade, embedded in the simple hexagonal stone being the center piece. There was a simplicity to it but the details on it made it the most imposing. The blade itself was a sharp mattee crimson blade, the dual edge honed to split a single hair from the tip to the root. The hilt was made of nine black rings rapped in a thin metal wire that was crossed over several times. The pummel was a simple silver sphere, carved lines through it to look like a globe of the Digital World. Inscribed on the flat of the blade was written the words "Courage Eternally Forged" on one side, on the other engraved "Blade of Fate" all written in Digicode. "Do you think-" I started.

"He will die before he pulls it out of that stone." Yamatomon answered harshly knowing what I was about to suggest, "Archer isn't worthy of it either way as far as I see it."

I didn't wish to press the issue about the Blade of Fate. It too carried its past tainted. "I'll see what Infimon knows." I turned off to leave the room, "I hope it isn't what I fear he may well be."


	9. No Backup

There wasn't a real way to prep for this but there never is in reality. The most important mission I had been given yet, saving an entire city and there was no procedure for it. At least, not in the covert world. So you had to break it down to parameters, absolutes. Simple truths of the situation and how to complete the objective no mater how daunting this really was,

I had no support. All my contacts and handlers were still off the clock, tied up in other tasking or didn't get back to me yet. I had no means of a response team in the form of the police, they didn't know I existed. I had no means of surveillance or eye in the sky (satellites), I had no command and control to report to which could give me directions or situation awareness. I couldn't walk around wearing any visible tactical gear, I'd get arrested. Since this operation I was doing had not been sanctioned by the State Department, I'd be in a jail cell and that get me nowhere if I got caught doing anything illegal.

Covert was this game and I was in this solo. What I signed up for.

I got ready in the middle of my little armory training room I pulled what I could off the walls. I threw on a tight fitting tactical jacket and rigged it this time with a little more firepower and armor. A USP .45 with a threaded suppressor in the holster under my arm, a slim covert vest with a trauma plate in it and a lot more magazines. I put all of this on in a ritualistic fashion for anyone who had been watching, carefully inspecting all of the parts before putting them back together and settling them into where they needed to be. I slid Gennai's given knife onto my belt just under the brim of my jacket in a scabbard that fit it. In my triangular tote bag I had break in equipment, my cell phone and a little bit more firepower if things became too dicey. The newest addition was the device Gennai gave me which I put on under my jacket just under my right shoulder and hooked it into my headset with the jack. I had to get creative and hook it into my LASH mike using a few connectors. I didn't bother with a radio, no one around at the moment to talk who might have been able to help. Langley was still waking up and the NSA who I reported to was still compiling my data. Add on a thick baseball cap, sunglasses and some tight leather gloves and that was all I needed to not leave a trace. With myself loaded up, I left the apartment to do some digging.

Long before I arrived at Highton, I was a lot more careful of what I was doing this time assuming I was being watched. I had caught glimpse of Cyrismon, or so I thought, he moved in and out of view of practically the whole world except in the cases he faded in and out in the corner of my eye just to let me know he was there still. Even if our last conversation and confrontation was less than warm in its ending, Cyrismon was still going to keep his end of the agreement between him and Gennai. Whatever his method, I wasn't concerned with him seeing me. It was everything else around here. I avoided the street cameras, used taxi and took as many back alleys as I could to get around. Its a skill to learn and you got to be a bit forward when doing it, like walking through a kitchen area and out the back and not caring what the chef thinks. Something that takes ten minutes is really three times that by the end. However, the price for that was I knew no one would have noticed me or tailed me. Worth it.

I walked back up the street to Heighton View Terrace, this time a fair bit more cautious and my mind wasn't wandering into questions of what if. The calls that I made, the files I accessed, the people who looked into these things and orders now being shouted into telephones to look in my indicated directions was causing a world wide seizure of reactionary action. No one would see it, not in a practical sense. In police stations around the world they might get a blurb of something. In unmarked hangers men who wore a lot of tactical equipment than I do now were getting briefs on this unknown group they'd never heard of and what might happen. Silent high alerts made for a quiet riot of response across the south eastern hemisphere, waiting for the raw data. I was that digging in knife into the underbelly of this world, I had to pry it out from somewhere. That's what happens when you're a field agent; you're the one out on your own and got to make it all happen.

My primary reason to be in Odiba was forming STATIC but I hadn't been sent just because I could speak the language. Being a native of Japan but an American citizen made me perfect for the translation but I had come back with an additional tract of reason. Coming back from Kosovo, ethnic clenching being a theme in hotshots recently, I step off the plane and I walk into the wake of a Sairn Gas attack in Tokyo. Being a vet of Desert Storm gave me that chemical warfare experience apparently. Some group called Aum Shinrikyo cooked the nerve agent up from scratch and even had a Soviet Hind Helicopter in their compound for a later attack. Shoko Asahara and over a hundred of the followers got arrested. The public thought they all got arrested but all sorts of loony bin types fly the coop before the net swoops down. They were really messed up folks, even did electroshock training direct to the brain for the 'purification' of thoughts. I'd make a joke about jumper cables, a chair and someone strapped to it yealds the same result but that is probably just in bad taste.

Just so you know, that wasn't my department. I dropped them off there time to time.

All options were on the table now considering what was happening now. I had to meet with one of the leading experts on the Datalists, if you could call a reporter that. These guys were new on the block and rumored to be in the same rhelm as Aum, at least in ultimate mentality of burn the world to the ground. What comes after the nihilistic outcome your guess was as bad as mine. I walked along the exterior hallway rounding the tenth floor of the building to who I needed to see to see. Hiroaki Ishada, a investigative reporter to Fuji TV. The budding journalist got his break when he did some investigation into Aum Shinrikyo and being on the breaking news team when the raid went down. Checking his released articles, he started reporting on Aum members dispersing and then the Datalists started to pop up online. If anyone knew of anything we didn't, it would be him. I came up to the door of his apartment and rose my hand up to knock. I heard some heated arguments coming from inside, domestic dispute at the low simmering level right now. I knocked on the door and it came to a sudden end with compromised vows to deal with this later.

The door swung open and out came the picture of an over worked Japanese middle class office worker. Dark brown hair, middle aged and looking way too tired for anything other than work Still wearing the white dress shirt, wrinkled and needing a press or just a run through the dryer was too tight on the scheduled. His hair was messy in desperate need of a shower and his eyes were tired beyond belief but they slowly widened when they came into finial focus on me. A face long torn apart by time, war and anger was hard to look at. "Mr Ishada?" I started.

"Yes?" He finally spoke, "Do I know you?"

"Not likely." I answered, "I'm here to speak to you about your investigation into the Datalists."

"Are you a police officer?" He questioned more.

"No." I shook my head, "I am here on behalf of the National Police Agency for your knowledge of the latest string of terrorist attacks in Tokyo. I'm just here to ask a few questions."

None of that was really that true but when you're working under the big umbrella of National Security of Uncle Sam, its easy to get around all that local law stuff. To back up what I had said I flashed one of my IDs which was just my picture, my name and the seal of the US State Department. It was official in the loosest sense, just something if anyone called someone would pick up the phone at the NSA or Langley and 'verify' my story. Ishada saw it and looked a bit cautious as he looked at the badge. "I've already submitted my story about them." He continued.

"May I come inside?" I cut to the point, "This is a matter of your national security. We are trying to avoid an attack."

That caught his attention, him pulling the door open a little bit more. The country was naturally shocked of the last attack on Tokyo and Odiba wasn't that far off from where the attack took place. "Come in then." He offered.

I walked right in and served the entire apartment in a casual glance. It was a nice apartment under all the strewn clothes, half eaten food and reminiscence of kids toys all over the place. Plenty of indications this was a working family's home; two desks across the room from each other with two workstations completed with many posted notes and cork boards. Both reporters? That was clear from all the clippings, photographs and strewn papers all over the place. The AC was cranked up to maximum, it wasn't that hot out even for summer. The door closed behind me and I saw the second party in this little home so far.

She was quite the lady but she looked pissed off at something and thankfully it wasn't me. Blond hair, very reserved look on her face as if she was studying me at the same time I was studying her. Go ahead. Not going to find anything aside from what you hear. She was wearing similar clothing to him, same ID badge on her shoulder and she looked way more haggard. The woman must have had some cognitive ability because she must have knew I wasn't just some random person. "I didn't get your name." Mr Ishada said as I took of my boots.

"Archer." I answered simply standing back up.

"And who do you work for?" The female now asked.

"State department."

No doubt Mrs. Ishada lamented, palm across the top of her head rubbing it furiously. "Oh god Hiroaki not this again." She muttered to herself.

"Please Nancy not now." Mr Ishada hushed her.

"Is there something wrong?" I questioned.

"Yes the very fact you are here." Mrs Ishada walked away, "First the mail, then the phone calls and now this!"

"Nancy!" Mr. Ishada tried to follow her.

"Mr Ishada." I stopped him with my tone, "Are you being threatened by someone?"

Hiroaki turned back to me looking passively angry at something but it wasn't just this. Nancy just went into the kitchen and I heard angry moving of dishes before it was replaced with a heavy sigh. Well that was my answer right there. "The police were already notified of it and they will be looking into it." Ishada answered, "They are just letters and a few phone calls."

Of course they are. Whatever helps you sleep at night. "I want a copy of all information you didn't publish on the Datalists." I returned to the point, "Anything you know about where they congregate, who the leaders are and what they are all about."

Ishada looked over to his desk of random papers and started to sort through them. I took that second to look about the room for any other indications of his situation. I saw magazines for home secuirty systems. Bars for the windows, alarm systems, re-enforced glass windows and cameras. All it needed was shotgun in the corner and you'd have the barricading package. The windows were all drawn back with the blinds closed over. Lots of take out, stacks of empty boxes on every corner. A scan of the cork boards showed lots of leads to many stories but seeing them I could tell which ones were which. I could see photographs of warehouses, some kind of rituals but one came in the form of a very particular dock area warehouse at the east end of Odiba. Odiba was the largest artifical island in the middle of Toyko so it stood to reason there were plenty of ferries and warehouses. One popped up through all of them as I made my way to them, one very nondescript place. "I don't know why she takes some computer programmers that seriously." Ishada looked over putting some of the papers together.

"Didn't take Aum Shinkariko seriously." I countered, "Just some weirdos right?"

He paused in his sorting, looking over at me with wide eyes as he compiled the papers in his hand. The name of that group was still fresh to the reporter, I looked back and saw he wasn't so certain. "What makes you think-."

"If I'm standing in your living room it is." I harshly interrupted I said taking the papers.

Nancy came back out of the kitchen now, hearing my tone as my eyes started to flash through the papers of scribbling, printed lines and diagrams. I instantly cut through things I did know like who they were talking to, their online presence, what they believed and went right to who they were and where they met. The photo of the warehouse on the docks linked up with the notes here. "The police are handling it." Mr Ishada insisted, "I won't let some nasty phone calls stop me from getting to the bottom of this."

Sure they were. You're just another complaint on the pile. Still, gotta give the guy credit for being an integral part of the fourth estate. "Its scaring the boys Hiro." Nancy insisted almost to tears, "Its scaring me! Who sends threatening mail and phones us in the middle of the night?"

"Matt is a strong kid." He answered resolutely, "TK's too young to understand. There is something bigger behind this digital cult."

I had flipped through the papers as I paced around the room, Nancy becoming further agitated at Hiroaki but probably a bit more reserved now a total stranger was in the room. Getting to the end and tabbing all of it up I saw something on the last page. Symbols that matched the ones on Gennai's and Railius's robes? There was a circle on one of the photographs of one of the cultists, a neck tattoo and one on their foreheads. Dedication it seems. I shifted my jacket and saw all of them matched the prototype that Gennai gave me!"What if it doesn't?" Mrs Ishada countered, "Who's going to protect me or the kids!"

I saw what they meant. On the wall there were a lot of hand written letters, some printed out and they were all drawn with neat kanji. One thing about these letters they were very matter of fact, rarely did someone go to that much trouble to make the handwriting neat. They started off with the typical verbal diarrhea of threats. We know who you are. Stop being a disbeliever. Join us and see or else. Then it got dark. Its too late for you. You had your chance. You failed to understand. You'll spread lies no more. These are your last days. That was the last letter. "What's going to happen Mr Archer?" Nancy looked to me, "Is...there a real threat?"

I turned to her after pulling a photograph off the wall, the one I needed to study intently. I looked up at both of them and held up the picture. "Tell me about what you know about these symbols and I'll tell you." I somewhat offered.

Mr Ishada looked at the picture, he seemed almost reluctant that I picked that photograph. I could safely guess that he expected me to ask about the warehouse but those buildings don't move so I didn't have to worry. He took the photo and looked it over. "There's nothing much to really say about these symbols that would matter to you." He evaded.

"Then just say it." I signaled him to continue but then a beeping cut me off.

I heard the communicator in my jacket go off, the distinctive tone to it catching me off guard. I pulled back my jacket and pushed the button to silence it but I heard static kick off in my ear. Mr Ishada's eyes lit up as he probably saw the device, deer in headlights. ~*"Archer its Gennai."*~ His voice crackled through the head piece.

"Hold that thought." I said turning away and placing my fingers on the two circular vocal sensors on my throat.

"Hey wait!" He started but I held a hand up at him as I walked into a hallway to keep him off me,

"Go for Archer." I ignored him.

~*"Where are you?"*~

"I'm with a contact right now getting a lead on the Datalists." I answered, "Why? You got something?"

~*"I think someone is coming for one of the children right now!"*~ Gennai informed.

Well that's wonderful. Things were progressing just great so far. "Where?" I cut to the point.

~*"Highton View Terrance tenth floor of the south building!"*~ He whispered, ~*"You have to hurry!"

I was on the tenth floor on the south side. "I'm already here." I assured as Mr Ishada came around the corner on a mission, "Where are they headed?"

"Dad what's going on?" A smaller voice said from down the hallway.

I glanced over my shoulder at who appeared in the hallway. It was a kid, maybe ten or twelve years old at the most. Blond hair that was messy all over, blue eyes like his mother and probably a few more of his father's looks going for some of his facial features but that was near impossible to tell unless I had a side by side picture. He was wearing a white t-shirt with some blue trimmings and he looked like he was taking a nap of some kind. A second, the littler one to be sure the first's brother. He had lighter brown hair, same eyes as the mom and similar looks. He was just wearing pajamas, a simple pattern of some kind of kid's anime characters on them. "Go back to bed kids!" Mr Ishada pointed and then turned back to me.

"But Da-" One of them started.

"Get back in your rooms this instant!" He demanded looking right at me, "That thing under your jacket? Do you know what that is?"

"Do you know what it is Mr Ishada?" I asked right back at him bewildered.

~*"Ishada?"*~ I heard Gennai over the line, "By the Codes! They are going after Matt and TK! How did they know?!"

"Matt and TK?" I couldn't help but asked through the mic.

"Did you know my sons' names?!" Mr Ishada now shoved me, "What's going on here?!"

I didn't answer the push because I was becoming far more incensed at the person on the other end of the line. I wasn't about to break his arm either. Not yet anyway. ~*"They just got around the corner!*~ Gennai sounded frantic now, ~*"Archer do something!"*~

I looked to my left, saw the wide eyes of the young boys confusion. I looked forward and saw the frustrated panic on the father's face. I looked over and saw the mother seeing nothing but desperate fear. They looked at me and saw a decision being made. "Mr Ishada." I spoke calmly.

Ishada didn't answer, just went stiffer up in front of me waiting for something. The boys leaned in with the smaller one being shielded by his bigger brother. The mother took a breath in slowly bracing herself. "The threat is real." I answered him, "And I'm going to deal with it."

I shoved right past him, not wanting to wait for an answer. I cleared the doorway and right past Nancy as I got back to my boots. I jumped into them, threw the laces over and knotted them both in half a second. I reached up and snagged the large tan trench coat off the rack at the door as my backpack came over in front instead of my back. "What are you doing?" Mr Ishada wondered.

"You a favor." I responded tossing over the trench coat over my shoulders.


	10. Just My Job

I snatched the ID tag off his shirt with another flash of a grab and attached it to his overcoat on my left side. He just jumped back as I finished straightening out the collar. 'What are you going to do?' He grabbed me by the shoulder to hold me in place.

That didn't go anywhere with me, a hand coming up and crimping down on his hand pulling it off. Ishada snatched his arm away as he felt every nerve in his hand go on fire for a moment. 'Ending a problem.' I answered I unlatched the deadbolt, 'Lock this and barricade it. Call the cops if they don't follow me."

I opened the door and took a quick peek with my unscarred left eye and saw who was coming. As if on cue five men came around the corner, basic street clothes but they were marching in lock step in a loose V formation like they had practiced it. Ball caps, sunglasses and surgical masks covered their faces but the tattoos I could see under their collars or behind their ears the digital symbols tattooed in black ink. One paricular one had an outline of a broken version of my given device which he was trying to hide with a cap on his head. I looked the other direction and spotted three more, same get ups but no one else with the forehead tattoo. Pulling my head back in and turned so my head was inside but my jacket and body was outside. Mister and Miss Ishada looked at me in confusion as I gave an encouraging nod. 'Love you sweetheart!' I spoke loud enough for them to hear me and then pulled the door shut.

~*Archer what are you doing?!*~ I heard Gennai scream through my headset and Mr Ishada got it instantly.

'Just my job.' I answered as all five of them stopped to see the ID tag.

'Ishada!' I heard the leader call out.

I shut the door and I heard the door lock the instant after it latched into the door frame. I glanced over barely enough for them to see and the other group to not at all from behind the shallow door frame. Three more came around the other corner, blocked in on both sides. 'Yeah?' I answered gruffly.

'This is your last day.' He repeated the words in the threatening letter.

I let a pause pass by, a sharp breath in through my nose. I lepted off the door, pushing off from the frame and sprinted at the three of them, head down and in a charge. The first in front took a step back surprised, the second moved up to intercept and the last lunged to get ahead. I barreled right into them, shoulder checking the first aside, headbutting the second and jumping up and drove my foot right into the midsection of the last. Number one slammed into window back first, the second's nose exploded in blood and the last was ripped off his feet to slam into the corner of the low wall of the walkway balcony. As they settled to the ground, I held up a middle finger at them to goad them on. 'Get that heretic!' The leader ordered with a point.

Try me.

The five sprinted after me all at once. I waited as the three grounded groaned out from the floor but they were getting up. All five blew past the door and didn't give it a look back. They wanted Mr Ishada, not his wife or kids yet. Good. I snapped a kick into the window breaker face and then sprinted off down the walkway. 'Gennai tell me where it is secluded!' I demanded through the communicator going for a fire escape.

~*'I'm not the one there!'*~ Gennai responded, ~*'Cyrismon is updating me!'*~

'Then tell him to help!' I yelled as I bashed through the door.

The door flew open, hitting me back for slamming it into the door stop, the enclosed stairwell spiraling down with a two foot gap in the middle that lead up to the roof and looking down all the way to street level. I traversed the stairs at speed, skipping half the steps in a jump each time to every landing. The mass of followers barreled their way through the door as I made it to the third, screams of orders and shouts to get out of each other's way as they chased after who they thought was an investigative reporter who really knew how to run. ~*'He said he will only protect you from Digimon not your own kind.'*~ Gennai informed grimly.

'Fucking fuzzball.' I muttered as I kicked open the door at the street level.

I broke out onto the street and now my hide and seek from the cameras took a turn for the harder. I had to spot where they were while running through a busy street with bystanders who were seeing me run through traffic filled streets. The mob behind me in a staggered column as it burst out the door, keeping up with me as I zig zagged through people, cars and street signs. I could feel the people around me reaching for their phones as the eight pursuers were relentless, running through people and jumping over vehicles and obstetrical to keep up. I was plotting my route, seeing where the streets were thinning out in this residential zone to somewhere this wouldn't be seen, or at least fully. I could have easily outstripped them but I kept them in the edges of my vision and didn't fully evade because I wanted them to follow me as far as I could make them. There were darting eyes seeing me blow past, cell phones coming out to phone the police but the response time will be more than enough time for me to get what needed to be done.

My answer came to an area between two buildings after five blocks of full running, the residential areas giving way to more commercial areas. All sorts of shops both private and chain stores flashed past as the small squad of Datalists were gaining on me. I spotted an alley way, taking a wide birth to avoid the camera pointing down at the entrance to the corner. I cut right up at the turn and shot past missing the view of directed lens and saw down the long alley way. Clear except for all the dumpsters and metal shutter garages back there. The end of the alley lead to a industrial area, a truck blowing past probably late for a delivery a full city block away. This was where the stand would be made and the most minimal of witnesses, no cameras pointing my way.

I got halfway down the alleyway and came to an abrupt stop as I slowly caught my breath, the running feet coming to a stop at the end of the alley's exit to the street. They stampeded around the corner and walled off the exit with their bodies in a single line. I heard a lot of heaving breaths, keeping up drained their enthusiasm. I took a few controlled breaths in and out, I was just fine. 'You didn't think you'd get away from your fate.' I heard the leader again now panted.

'You think I was trying to get away.' I kept my back to them, 'I'm only going to say this once. Leave.'

I glanced over my shoulder, they didn't seem to take the hint or the warning. Knives came from their jackets, whips of wrists produced extendable battons. The leader stood back with his arms crossed nodding with a smug grin, thinking I was prey. 'Bring him to his knees.' He instructed, 'Railius will bless this deed.'

I then turned fully around, them stopping at once on a unison step. 'Hey wait a second.' One of them pointed at me, 'That isn't Ishada!'

'You didn't leave when I told you.' I spoke now in the coldest of tones, 'Now you won't leave at all.'

In this situation, outnumbered eight to one the only answer was aggression. Absolute, coldly effective violence. I ducked down and ran again right at them, looking as if I was about to trip but my palm scooped up dust from a crusted over pot hole. The eight of them charged but not all at the same time, might have given them a bit of an edge if they had. A whip of my hand and a whipped the gray powder dashed across the first closest one's eye, blind for the second enough for my elbow to impact his jaw, distorting his face with it popping out of joint. Some of them started to stop and back up, a few of the more enthusiastic ones kept coming. A whip of a baton my way, I caught his wrist in a clench, a hip into his and he flew right over and then straight down into the ground bending at the back the wrong direction. A third flew in with a blade slash, a parried his arm into a clinch and his arm broke when my forearm snapped it at the bicep. Throwing him face first into a dumpster, his face was momentarily pressed up against the metal before my boot swung up and drove sole of it into the back of his skull. Dumpster lurched backward but came to a stop against the wall, the force causing his face to flatten out and blood pooled on the ground as he slickly slid off.

The five untouched stopped stunned as I reached down to the two extended batons on the ground, the ends sliding across the cement as they lifted. Their friends were not moving. I twirled them in my hands and shook my head. 'Still standing here.' I signaled them to come closer, 'Come get me.'

'Kill him!' The leader ordered frantically.

The four remaining nervously charged with a war cry like bonsai, their frustration funneled as their weapons brandished all tried to hit me at once. Two weapons in hand, I hunched forward and spun the batons around into all of my blocks, fancy not any part of it to the twisting parries. It was to gain momentum as they struck their weapons or their limbs and keep them back. They all scrambled over each other to get at me, swings over head down like an ax strike or wild swings to get that lucky blow. Anything that came my way I snapped a strike into taking fast crossing steps backwards. Arms bent upon a hit, knuckles popped and fingers shattered as the metal rods presciently hit their marks. I couldn't afford to miss. Desperation started to seep in as a dislocated knee cap fell one of them, another broke through attempting the flurry of small knife strikes he'd seen in the movies. That fantasist was broken when I blocked both arms with my weapons and drove my forehead right into his nose. He ended as I hopped back in a spin, drew both steel extended rods over my head in a swooping motion and cracked them off his skull one right behind the other. I saw it split right down the middle of his face and blood seeped out the ruptured line of flesh as he fell like a post. Down to three, one catching his fellow traveler in irrationality as he spammed in his arms. The leader reached under his jacket at his belt to pull something out rapidly.

Gun? His fingers gripped around a grip with his finger out. Gun. I spun around on the spot, batting two sets of arms away, pivoted around and whipped one of the batons flying off in high speed. In his panic to get the nickle plated pistol out from his belt buckle, the leader didn't seem to see the steel flying at his head. It rang off his skull, the pistol flashed off in a spiral away when he fumbled his grip along with three of his teeth the other direction. Two of the original three men who charged started to get up and amble their way at me to reengage. The two still standing, shaking in their pain but their devotion was holding strong to keep coming. I led with my singular weapon keeping the blades and batons at bay, their anger and rage catching up. Their fatigue was too. One misstep on a slash and I brought a hard two handed strike across his forearm, shattering the man's bones like they was sugar glass. The knife fell out as he cried out of staggering agony, the last one standing trying to drive an overhead plunging of the point through my chest in a roar. I spun out on the way and drove a knife edge strike to his throat, the wet crackling of his wind pipe snapping under the impact. I wound up and drove a straight punch right through the side of his cheek, nose and jaw. His face deformed and spit flew, arms going limp and his body flopping onto the ground. I turned on the spot, rose my boot up and drove it right down heel first onto the back of shattered wrist's neck where my boot only stopped two inches from meeting the cement. A momentary look back caught the leader moving again.

The leader was going for his gun, blood pouring out of his mouth and nose from the spiraling baton dented in his face, shuddering to himself as he crawled to it. I spun and let my last beat stick fly in a toss as his hand got around it. The rotating steel would have missed if he didn't get up and aim at me, a second blow removing three more teeth and him right back to the ground. The least injured man finally let his skull fractured friend go and ran at me with hate. The flurry of kicks came my way were wide and fast, spins up and over looking to smack my skull around. Fist came next, fast and short and all of my paring and blocks he was sneaking a few strikes in, the burn through my body bending it away trying to soak in the damage. A few reminders of my other ribs that were fractured last night snapping back into my nervous system. He flicked a knife up off the ground with his foot, catching it in his off hand. Shit. Now came an even faster slashing, my response catching him at the forearm and drove a hooked thumb right into his left eye. It dug in, yanked out a mushy red puree where his eye was as he screamed out clutching his face. I took that chance to twist away, grabbed the hand still holding the blade and drove it along with his fist right through the center of his rib cage. His last eye went wide as he paused there for a second, quiet ghaps inward I twisted my wrist hard and bored the knife around a full six hours on the face of a clock. I yanked it out, he fell to his knees and then flat to his face. I let the blade hit the ground as he breathed his last to join the growing number of fallen on the ground.

I stood there breathing hard, muscles burning again and surveyed my damage I caused. The eight laid sprawled out over the floor, writing in stunted agony and panicked groans of pain. There was gurgling, snoring like breathing for those unconscious and the very unfortunate sound of blood dripping into a hollow storm drain from some of them. The same drips were falling off my gloves to the ground from a few different men. I looked at my gloves and casually wiped them on the heart stuck male's clothes who was looking off into the distance with an empty gaze and a wide open mouth. The last two who were even conscious was the leader and the one who I hip tossed into the ground.

The leader was soaked in blood, a gash on his head and blood pouring from his mouth as he frantically was looking for the gun again. I walked over the bodies and the last broken one as the leader now toothless front teeth grinning as he did not see me approach and swung it around with a laugh. This time it was my boot catching his wrist and stomping it right into the ground, crushing all of his fingers into the cement. He fell over and clutched my ankle to pull me off of his mangled digits sobbing in pain. I grabbed my hand around his neck with one hand, squeezing in and the other pulling the pistol away from the now free floating finger bones that was his hand. The leader looked up at me as I looked down into his with the exact same expression I gave him when the fight started. Unyielding intensity. His eyes flashed doubt for a moment but it dissipated into blind faith. 'You'll...pay for this' He garbled out.

I let go of his throat and instead reached my fingers through his hair and clenched in, dragging him by it as he writhed around screaming clawing at my hand. No doubt waking up the whole neighborhood at this point, silence not exactly an option at this point. I cocked the hammer back on the revolver as I lifted him off from his ass and then tossed him right over the still groaning body. Deflecting off the dumpster, he fell to the ground as the last man with any semblance of wherewithal left saw his boss just fall to the ground. The last man looked terrified as he backed away and wedged himself between the two dumpsters, hands up and covering his face. There were two left who were still breathing, the one with the broken arm reaching with his good arm behind his back. Throat punched was crawling towards a knife. "Maybe I didn't make myself clear." I sighed reluctantly.

I brought my arm up with a flick of my wrist and fired into the one reaching behind his back, four of his grit teeth dissipated and blood just flowed out as he flopped onto his side. The other looked over as he put his hand on the knife just as my next shot popped a new hole through his temple. The still smoking end of it lowered down at the leader. 'Where is Ralius?' I asked simply, 'Talk.'

~*'Archer...what have you done?"*~ I heard a disbelieving Gennai.

What I do for a living. 'I will never betray my lord.' He spat on my shirt.

I dropped my aim and fired the third bullet right through his kneecap. He jumped up in pain, screams in and out as he ran out of breath. I then leaned my foot over on his knee as I looked over at the not so devotee. He was still cowering, now looking panicked. 'Do you know where Railius is?' I looked over with a question.

'Don't you da—-.' The leader flailed for a nearby knife on the ground just out of reach.

I didn't have to look back to know when I fired it went through his left eye, my arm drawing over as the mix of brain, flesh and blood spilled out the back of his head. I took one more shot into his chest on purpous, leaving one last round in the chamber. 'You know where Railius is?' I asked casually as the leader's foot started to switch.

'Please I beg you don't make me say it!' He pleaded with his hands in prayer, 'He'll kill me!'

I popped out the cylinder with a flick, seeing all but one spent .38 caliber round. I shook the brass out and caught them in my hand, presenting just a shell casing. 'I'm not a patient man.' I informed him growing fake aggravated, 'You got till the gun goes off to tell me where your little operation is going on.'

I put the shell casing back in feeling the hit primer, spun the cylinder and flicked it back in the frame. I took aim and cocked the hammer back again. The sites aimed at his head, the fear was building up that I could already smell urine and it wasn't here before. 'Well?' I signaled him to spill it.

'I can't do-' He started.

I pulled the trigger, the loud click hitting an empty chamber and he cried out in terror clutching his head with his eyes closed. I spun the chamber again, the loud clicking ending abruptly as the hammer went back. 'I'll leave as soon as you tell me.' I aimed again.

'Pleas-'

Another loud click and spin of the chamber, him clawing into his head more fighting with himself. 'Next one is probably it.' The hammer clicked.

"Okay okay the temple is at the waterfront!' He cried out breaking into sobs with his hands up at me, 'Near the ferry terminal! Just please let me go!'  
I saw movement come from the end of the alley, Gennai slipping around the corner at full speed but coming to a stop seeing what I was doing. I gave him a slight glance and then back to the terrified cultist. 'Thanks for confirming that.' I answered with a nod, 'This round's on me.'

Eyelids reaching up to their furthest, Gennai ran at me as I pulled the trigger./pre


	11. What Archer Is

I made my way away from the fiery furnace of Yamatomon's chambers, the clanging becoming more and more distant as I my sensations started to become more tuned to the completely alien mechanical and electronic based rhelm of Infimon. It started as the stones started to integrate circuits into the very structure, cables like veins bulging out the stone or swelling I neared his side of the temple, the built in sheet metal and electronics molded into the stone, monitors of unintelligible digicode scrolled, lights popped out in little pinholes. Rudimentary looking at first before it started becoming more and more refined and streamlined circuits, compounded additions like antennas, receivers and so much I didn't understand I couldn't identify. Flying at top speed to get there quicker to ease my aching heart and mind I entered into the singular gigantic dome of where Infimon had been since Gennai left.

Inside was that of a human clean room,all the cables leading to a single dais in the center where Infimon was sitting crossed legged and with his eyes closed. He was commonly here, most of the time spent in the quiet of his own mind and internal run time of his abilities. The circuits, cables and wires lined the walls like a spider web and even went as far to make linear designs which I did appreciate in my own way. I kept imagining the massive roots through the ground in my own realm, to Infimon they served a similar reason. The light was an ambient soft blue or white from all the little diodes above like an artificial night sky again the light gray stones. All of the cables rolled around each other, bonded in spirals and lead under the dias that glowed a soft white light as he breathed in and out. "Giamon.' He softly breathed, 'Is there anything I can assist you with?'

I floated a little closer to him, doing my best to stay away from all of his mechanical and electrical things. Infimon didn't like organics touching them although he let me get away with it at times for certain reasons.'Infimon I need to know about...'

'Archer?' He opened his grey blue eyes at me which gave a slight shine.

'Yes Infimon.' I smiled at him, ' What did you find?'

He shifted his form from the perfect lotus position to slump a little forward, the light around him fading almost completely out to leave the dias a darkgray. He looked around his room of his own design and rubbed a fist into his palm trying to find words to answer. That never happened.'Someone who has lived a life of violence.' He came to an answer, 'I feel sorry for him.'

I actually stopped flying hearing the tone in his voice landing on a cable with a thud. Infimon was not devoid of empathy to say the slightest. In fact he was probably the most sensitive beings in the Digital World but he had a very strict code of his own conduct and at times projected it onto others. Infimon was not Yamatomon who had a much different idea to fighting that him. He saw it as a last resort to reason and subversion and only done as minimalist in nature as possible. Precise and quick. Not that he couldn't level a mountain if he wanted keep in mind. 'What do you mean?'

'I looked into his past.' Infimon answered looking back up, 'Do you want to view it?'

'Please let me understand'

'That is what I do.' He brought his hands out and splayed out his fingers.

From his very hands small particles formed and fell onto the ground, droplets of digital energy forming in a waterfall of them that lit up up the dias. His eyes blinked and emerged a hot white color as he accessed both worlds into his mind. The data partials flowed back up in a rush to form a humanoid shape. In a snap of static, it the body became crystal clear but still slightly translucent projection of a much younger man. It was some kind uniform the younger human was wearing, camouflage pattern for woodlands. From the side thinner and smaller screens projected from the sides giving out clear information. US Army Uniform? I knew it was Archer from the very clear scar down his right eye and the gash on the side of his head. It was far more apparent because his head was shaved. 'That is the earliest picture I could find.' Infimon's voice was more ethereal now which had a bit of a song tone to it,'This was when he joined his organization at seventeen years of age.'

'How did he get that scar if it wasn't in battle?'

Another screen popped up to the Archer projection's left. It looked like a very large vessel of some kind,the back end of it looked like it was ripped off. There were large guns on it and it was surrounded by smaller boats trying to put out the fire. 'According to this he was on that ship at the age of twelve when a training accident happened.' Infimon answered, 'His father and sister were...killed.'

I felt both our hearts sink at that,mine a little further than Infimon. A child seeing or experiencing something like would make any mother pain for. 'He was remarked by his commanders as a fearless solider.' Infimon quickly continued on,'Rose to the rank of Sargent, qualified as what they call a Forces as they call them.'

The projection changed and split into multiple flat images that floated as large murals of places on Earth. Mostly in deserted areas and his uniform had changed many times to match his surroundings. A lot of the times the look on his face had changed from the firm gaze to a more...animated smile with his fellow soldiers. Most of these were group photos with what I assumed were other 'Rangers', posing with weapons or sitting on military vehicles along side him. All of the pictures extrapolated into one new projection, a fully three dimensional representation of him at that time. Combat armor, assault weapons but that steel eyed nature had softened just a little bit. Infimon even gave him a bit of an animation, shifting around with his weapon over his shoulder and inhaling off what looked like a burning piece of paper to exhale smoke that trailed away off into nothing. 'Then this incident called Black Hawk Down as it was come to be known.' Infimon grimly noted,'He was on something called the Lost Convoy and then lead a rescue mission.'

The image melted away for a second and reformed as something far darker. Archer's uniform was dirtier, ripped and torn in places. His vest which I believed carried his ammunition was gouged, missing a lot of what I think were called magazines. His face was covered in dirt, blood and a fresh gash on the left side of his face was bleeding down the side of his neck. He was sitting this time on a rudimentary stone wall, holding a helmet in his hands that was splattered with what looked like blood. I peered closer and saw the name "SHUGHART*" was written on the side of it, him looking saddened and clear track marks where the blood and grime was washed away on his face from tears. 'He went back against orders to a crash site but didn't arrive in time.' Infimon continued quietly now, 'He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions that day.'

(SFC Randy Shughart was a Delta Force Operative who died in Black Hawk Down defending a crash site and a recipient of the Medal Of Honor. Posthumously.)

'What is the award for?' I said looking closer at the grieving face of the human.

The image blink for a moment before it formed into a single object that slow spun around as if suspended by a twisted string. A cross of bronze,two inches in height, a little less across with an very defined eagle with its wings out on the center. An etched scroll below the eagle bearing the inscription "FOR VALOR" was drilled in with great care. On the reverse side when it turned over, the center of the cross is circled by a wreath with a space for engraving the name of the recipient which had Archer's name on it. 'Extraordinary heroism.' Infimon answered as I plucked his created projection from the air into my small hands, 'The act or acts of heroism must have been so notable and have involved risk of life so extraordinary as to set the individual apart from his or her comrades. That's directly from the found description.'

The projection slowly faded away and what returned was the current visage of Archer. The hardened eyes,devoid of his military equipment and now in more plain clothes with the scar healed over now and armed with a smaller gun that looked just as dangerous, meant for the clandestine operations. 'A hero?' I asked the projection, 'Could he be?'

"Perhaps he forgot what is to be one." Infimon remarked in reflection as his eyes faded back to normal, "Or just hides it very well.'

EARTH

The hammer clicked hard, the loudest yet next to a gunshot but nothing happened. The man screamed out in fear again, expecting to not see anything else or his pitiful life flash before his eyes. Instead he panted slowly opening his tears swamped lower lids and a small yellow pool of piss soaking through his pants onto the ground. Looking up at me as my expression had not changed, I pulled the pin from the front and let the cylinder fall tothe side as Gennai stopped bewildered I had not fired. I pulled the singular shell casing out and showed it for what it was to the broken man. The lead was missing, a spent round the whole time. "The next round is on you." I educated him, " Leave now or be a slave to a master. Your choice."

I tossed the empty brass into his lap as I turned away, him catching it as I loaded the live round into the chamber tore place it. I spotted a small pebble of cement on the ground,snatching it up and jamming it into the barrel from the inside the cylinder, wedging it in so it could close firmly. Knelt down I spotted something of interest on the belt of the brain leaking leader, a simple cellphone case. I swiped at it and slid the cheap cell out and into my pocket. I tossed the gun over my shoulder, the revolver clattering onto the ground. There were some panicking noises coming from between the dumpsters as Gennai surveyed the broken form son the ground. I was calmly walking past him, stepping over the bodies and grinding my feet side to side into the ground to prevent footprints. 'Why did you do this?' Gennai muttered in an accusatory tone at me.

I still walked past him, giving him a dismissive glance. 'Its what I do.' I answered briefly, 'I deal with were dealt with.'

'I didn't ask you to do this!' Gennai was becoming more visible angry at me, 'You killed seven people Ar-.'

My hand sprang up and shut his mouth tight with my full hand. 'You say my name he dies.' I answered with a near hiss and a point back, 'No evidence got it?'

I let his mouth as he now had streaks of blood from several of these goons on his cheeks, him wiping his face away only to smear it on his sleeve. Gennai looked disgusted at me and it; judgment was not his to give. I heard another set of footsteps far closer than the sirens, I moved to the corner and caught the man who was just about to turn it. It was Ishada! I grabbed him by the shirt before he ran under the camera aimed in his direction, pointing at it as he saw me. He fought against me for a second but I silenced him with a finger up at my lips. When he saw it was me and the absolute destruction of human beings in the alley, he stiffened like a support strut. 'Holy shit.' He whispered in terrified awe, 'You weren't kidding!'

'I keep my promises now lets get out of here before cops show.' I shoved him back towards the exit.

'Heretic!' I heard the typical decision made.

I looked over as the frantic fanatical young man had taken the revolver and aimed it at me or Ishada who was to tell. Standing with a pathetically limp pose at the dumpster, the zealotry in his eyes honed in on us. Ishada behind me as I stood in front of him and Gennai lept backwards for cover. "For Lord Railius!' He screamed at the top of his lungs as he pulled the trigger.

'I warned you.' I just gave a point at him.

The hammer struck a few times at nothing as he furiously tried to fire, roaring babble and froth coming out of his mouth. Four tugs later certainly shot fired but nothing came out the barrel save self destruction. The pistol seemed to swell up, the six shot chamber swelling like a balloon before it fractured into a dozen pieces. The chamber pin blew off, the barrel swelled up instantly and popped, the trigger disappeared. His hand resembled a stretched balloon before popping into bone, flesh and blood as the entire firearm ripped itself apart in the potent small blast. The misfire from hell sent fingers flying off in wet chunks, a spray of red chunks across everything five feet in diameter. The last man fell screaming to his knees, collapsing to the ground clutching what was left of his gnarled half hand half stump of an appendage. Ishada stumbled back and Gennai flinched backwards in surprise. I shook my head as stumpy took in the fact he only had half of his pinky left. Gennai's face turned almost white at what had happened,my solidly unflinching expression almost disturbing him more. "Gave him the chance to walk." I simply stated, "You going to blame me for his poor life choice?"

I grabbed Ishada and lead him around the corner as the police sirens closed in, leaving the woeful wails of a broken man among the silent forms of his so believed brothers.


	12. What Could Have Been

We managed to slip away all three of us together, disappearing into another alley way and further away from the police sirens that were off in the distance. The alley was long and shaded in an old warehouse district, no movement around here save some forklift machines off in the distance behind some far away fence down by the docks. There was enough cover here so we could stand out in the open but Ishada chose to stay under a doorframe. He was somewhat out of breath still from running as far as we did. Gennai just stood off to the side not looking at me no matter where I paced. "Why did you follow me?" I lit a cigarette, "You got a death wish or something?"

Ishada stood up and pointed at his jacket I was still wearing. I gave him a skeptical look as to the reason. I took it off with one hand and handing it back as I put my backpack back on where it belonged. Ishada pointed to my pack, indicating he wanted one as well. I offered it up and even gave him a light for it to settle his nerves, even if Nicotine was a stimulant it helped. At least psychologically, definitely not medically speaking. The reporter put his jacket back on, oddly enough only a few blood stains on it but he didn't notice them let. "I want an answer about what is on your shoulder under your jacket."

"You mean you chased behind eight men who came to kill you to ask me about this?' I asked pulling back my jacket at the shoulder to show the device, 'Do you know what it is?'

"I don't know what its called but I have seen it before.' Ishada answered blowing some smoke out, 'Not that it matters. I want to know why you're around him."

He indicated at Gennai with a point. I looked over slowly at Gennai. 'You know him?' I pointed two fingers at the robed man.

Gennai flinched like he was hit, looking back over his shoulder turning fully around. 'How do you know me?' Gennai looked bewildered.

Ishada didn't answer, fists clenched at him and his gaze just this repressed hatred in his composure. Gennai was frozen where he stood, looking down with his eyes going back and forth as if he was searching. I looked between the two before taking a step between them, a soft inhale in and out. Just a precaution for the second. 'Whatever your history is can wait.' I informed them both, 'I got a lead where their main base is and our window is going to get smaller the more time we waste.'

'You stopped the Datalists coming for me didn't you?' Ishada questioned.

'There are more of them and they are planning to attack Highton View Terrace.' I told him finally, 'You were just on their vendetta list Ishada.'

Ishada looked dismayed, palms up at his head to keep it from exploding. 'Oh my god my family!' He whispered, 'I have to get back and get them out of there!'

'You can't do that!' Gennai broke in, 'All the children have to be there for tonight in order for things to happen as they need to!'

I looked back over with a raised eyebrow. Thinking back he knew both Ishada's kids names before. 'Gennai are you not telling me something about these kids?' I asked, 'Do you know who they are?'

Gennai gave a reluctant nod. 'Yes.' He confessed, 'I know who is suppose to be chosen to fight for our worlds.'

Confusion was all over my mind, looking over at Ishada now. He was completely horrified and that was turning into anger really fast. 'You...you didn't!' He snarled seethed rage now, 'You fucked my childhood and you want my sons to have the same fate!?'

"Its not like that Hiroaki!' Gennai spoke his first name.

"Okay what the fuck is going on here?!' I demanded prememtively getting between both of them, 'Gennai how the hell do you know what is going to happen?'

Gennai opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out, slowly closing it closing his eyes with his fists clenched. 'You wouldn't believe me.' He answered to my annoyance.

'I used to.' Hiroaki muttered bitterly.

'Say it!' I barked at him and then went back to Gennai.

'I know because I'm from the future.' Gennai came right out and said those words, 'I know because I saw it all happen and how it turned out in the end.'

I didn't say anything. Ishada looked like he heard a dog whistle. What could I say to that? It was so laughable I would have hit the floor in complete hysterics if it wasn't for the fact I felt insulted he gave such a ludicrous explanation. Adding in all the parallel dimensions and digital creatures I couldn't deny were real, that was a prior unknown feat to reality to beat everything up to this point in ludicrousness. Gennai was serious, I could tell from his reluctance or else he would have made it up being defensive. 'Got any proof of that?' I offered but couldn't help the condescending tone.

'Yes.' Gennai said holding up his hand.

In a burst of light forming in the center of his palm, a slowly forming blue core of light swelled out of nothing. It stretched out after reaching the size of a baseball, flatting out into a form of liquid crystal. The glow slowly faded away as I could see the shape it was taking. Looking like a stacked form of paper, it emerged from the light as a newspaper and landed flat in Gennai's hand. I took a step closer and saw it was the city's main paper. Ishada leaned in as did I onto the same thing.

On the top right corner was tomorrow's date. 'How is that possible?' I asked taking it out of his hand.

Both Ishada and I looked over the front page, it was a very grim read. The headline photo was of the main drag that went down Highton View Terrace, the street torn appart, cars flipped over and smoke still rising. The two overpasses were knocked down, chunks ripped out and debris were all over the place. The buildings looked untouched save a few chunks ripped off. Reading through the main article, I saw deep down on the right side of the page who wrote the article. 'I wrote this?' Ishada beat me there.

'When I am from we collected all sorts of things from our past.' Gennai walked over to the railing to the bay as we read through it, 'Like how people kept papers from historic events like historians. That is from the first time the Digital World came through to your world by accident. I kept a copy for a keepsake.'

The articals didn't say very much outside of the property damage and the possible reasons to what happened. It sited it as a terrorist attack as a possibility but then it went on to say it could have been anything like a gas main breaking. No matter what, they didn't have an answer and left it as it was under investigation which could have meant anything. There were no listed fatalities, not a single injury even. Ishada leaned away still not believing it. 'You could have made this up!' Ishada accused, 'Any reason to get us to help him!'

I wisely flipped the page, seeing more and more details but they looked irrelevant for the most part. Lots of eye witness testimony, the lowest form of proof at all and it all contradicted each other. Only one thing seemed to stop my eye in its tracks. There were some parents that while they were giving their side of the events remarked their kids kept saying there were some monsters outside. Another page flipped and there was a fuzzy poloride camera shot from the night. It was grainy, blurred and shot over a balcony aiming down at the street. And I saw a big orange foot claw crunching into set of parked cars. Even the image's source said it was from their own kid. I was about to turn the page when I saw Ishada approach Gennai who was looking out into the bay. 'Even if what you're saying is true I don't want my sons to get involved in your games!' Ishada demanded.

'These aren't games to me or anyone for that matter Hiroaki!' Gennai defended that accusation turning towards him, 'And nothing bad is going to happen to Matt or TK!'

'You can't possibly know that!' Ishada gave Gennai a shove, 'You give me one good reason why I shouldn't beat you to death right here!'

'He's got a sword for one.' I remarked turning the page.

'And I will stop you.' An absent fuzzball I'd rather stay absence spoke out.

In phased Cyrismon, making his entrance right between Gennai and Ishada giving him a shove backwards. Normally, this is the point where someone in Ishada's position would have run away screaming. Instead, he stood there with his fists clenched with only a little surprise on his face; it faded back into frustration. Cryismon gave me the darkest of looks, I cranked my fist around my other hand till the middle one extended. He didn't get it. 'You got your own partner Digimon Gennai?' Ishada took a step back, 'Always someone else fighting your battles.'

I still read through the paper, now getting into the in other news section when I saw a picture in the bottom right corner. A full quarter panel dedicated to a seemingly unrelated incident. No. That can't be. I was reading but it wasn't making it into my brain. It was just stopping like a brick hitting steel. I kept reading further, every word that bordered two photographs understanding but failing to comprehended it. One was of a crash scene involving a truck into a wall, the entire front cab was crumpled and burnt with the cargo box on the back crushed like a soda can had been stepped on it. There were two distinct yellow sheets, one over the cab and the other in the middle of the street, blocked police caution tape. The other picture next to it was failing to process in my head, the solider in the dress uniform an emotional impossibility to interpret. 'How do you know about partner Digimon?' Cyrismon wondered at him, 'I'm not his partner so you know.'

'I had a friend I should have had to lose!' Ishada took a step back forward, 'And now you expect me to go along with this?!'

'He's telling the truth.' I spoke up hoarsely.

All three of them looked over at me as they saw a look on my face that never crossed it on any occasion. Complete and total dismay. My composure had been thwarted by something the human mind was never made to comprehend. I walked over as they all separated from each other to give me passage to lean with my hands on the cold wet bars. I slapped the paper into Ishada's chest which he took with both hands, one finger pointing out where to read it. 'You want to know who I am Gennai?' I said just looking out into the bay, 'Its all there.'

Ishada looked and shook the paper to make it stiff in his hands. I could feel his eyes go wide and he sputtered to himself trying to form words. 'The victim of a vehicle accident on the morning of July 29th has been identified.' Ishada started to speak, 'The US State Department released this morning Captain Jay Archer was in Odiba when a speeding van struck him at an intersection near Highton View Terrace.'

Gennai slowly turned to me like a deer in headlights, Cyrismon glanced with a questioning gaze in my direction and Ishada shook his head before coming around to my side, studying my look of indifference at the water. 'He was killed instantly?' He continued flatly and bafflement soaked every word, 'The decade long soldier was described by General Collin Powell as one of the most heroic Rangers he knew. Archer was a US citizen but was born at CFA Yokosuka, son to an Admiral in the US Navy. Highly decorated with his latest award being the Distingushed Service Cross, he will be burred in Arlington National Cemetery with full honors. He was twenty seven, no next of kin was available for comment. The driver of the truck did not survive.'

There was more silence now as pretty much my entire life was summed up in a single paragraph. I couldn't help but feel a bit of depression to which one's life could be jammed into so few words. I wasn't so arogant I felt I needed some kind of validation either. What I did for a living didn't allow it. That was one of the many prices for my life in the shadows. Still, I couldn't help being almost depressed my life was suppose to end last night anyway. 'I got nothing.' Ishada admitted coming to the end of the artical, 'What can I say to this?'

'You wrote it and took my snuff picture that's enough.' I mumbled at him indicating his name at the end of artical. 'Two wars, thirty combat missions and I get waxed by a truck.'

'I take it you would have preferred death in battle.' Cyrismon guessed.

'If those were the only two choices.' I admitted, 'Rather go out with empty magazines and broken knuckles than end up a smear on a front grill.'

Gennai came up next to me, eyes wandering up and down me as I held onto the railing for the only support I wanted right now. He then placed a hand on my shoulder and clenched in tightly. I didn't want his sympathy but it wasn't like I was going to break his hand for it. "Archer I need you to know something.' He spoke finally.

I drifted him a look and nodded not going anywhere for the moment. 'I didn't know you were the one in that paper.' He answered, 'I didn't think-.'

'You did the right thing right?'

'I couldn't just let you get hit by that truck.' Gennai insisted with a natural reason, 'But what you did in that alley...'

'It was me or them.' I defended firmly, 'They chose the same option. I was just better at it than they were.'

'Archer's right Gennai.' Ishada surprisingly defended, 'They would have killed me and my family if he didn't draw them off. What would you want him to do? Ask them nicely to stop?'

'The loss of life is what I'm trying to prevent!' Gennai angrily countered, 'What good is what we do if you stoop to the level of the evil!?'

That offened me, the dark cringe on my face unavoidably emerging on my face. I leaned right up off the railing and turned to him, eyes crunched into slits and my fists clenched. Gennai actually backed away, Cyrismon stepped forward. 'You know what's evil?' I pointed off into the vague direction from where we run, 'Evil would have loaded the chamber and shot stumpy. Evil is a smile on your face when you put a bullet in someone. Do I look like I'm smiling?'

Gennai stood there, shock turning to sadness at my expression seeing he was dead wrong. 'I don't enjoy this.' I finished with a dismissive gesture, 'But I won't stand by and let innocents suffer madmen either.'

The phone I had taken off eyeless leader went off on my belt, the generic tone of the throw away pay as you go phone catching everyone's eye. 'As much as I would like to ponder what could have happened,' I excused myself from the topic, 'Right now is what really matters.'

I picked the phone out of my pocket and quickly retrieved a pocket recorder from my shoulder bag. I clicked it on and hit the answer button, putting it on the speaker setting as I answered it. I held the recorder's mic right up to the phone. ~*'Is it done?'*~ An unfamiliar voice asked, ~*'You didn't report in.'*~

'Ishada has lived his last day.' I answered mimicking the leader's voice as best as I could muster.

I shot Ishada a look and a single finger up at my lips at everyone to keep quiet. They didn't catch on what I was doing that fast as confusion set in all of them. ~*'The lies have been ended.'*~ The voice agreed, ~*'Lord Railius wants you to get back to the temple when you are done. Tonight will be our first assertion of our power.'*~

Well that fit with everything so far, time to do the other part of my job. Ishda held his breath but it was dawning on him what I was doing, nodding a little more. 'With the Lord's permission we will stay here waiting for his family.' I suggested out on a limb, 'We don't want them contacting the police when they find him gone. We will also be closer to strike tonight so long as we hide here out of sight.'

There was some murmering on the other side now, words broken up by the mic on the other end not picking it up. I wish I could trace the call since he was going on more than a few seconds. Gennai started to walk around me, my manipulation succeeding. ~*'That is a clever idea.'*~ I heard a far too familiar voice of Railius on the other side pipe through, ~*'We will contact you with the names of the heathen families for you to deal with directly. We shall carry out the rest.'*~

Gennai and Cyrismon both flinched at the voice on the other side. 'Yes lord Railius.' I had to fight every urge to not be sarcastic.

The phone hung up on the other end and I cut the recording right after it. All three witnesses to that looked differently. Gennai was puzzled, Cyrismon was confused and Ishada was horrified that he actually had a hit out on him 'Misinformation.' I looked up at all three, 'Now they won't go looking for their friends for now.'

'So my family will be safe!' Ishada breathed a sigh of relief, 'I have to get back to them!'

'You can't.' I told him.

'What?'

"If you go back and someone's watching they will send someone else.' I explained, 'They leave it your family is out in the open. They will be safe for now.'

'What are you going to do?' Gennai asked.

'I'm going to that Temple of theirs and make even more problems.' I answered, 'Ishada do you have any police contacts? Anyone who would be working this kind of case?'

'That's easy.' Ishada answered, 'Hiroki Hida. A buddy of mine from collage I trade info for access. He's a member of the Special Armed Police.'

I was just putting my recorder away along with the phone when I stopped mid action hearing that. "Did you say Hiroki Hida?' I asked to clarify looking at him.

'Do you know him?' He asked surprised.

'We crossed paths.' I eluded.

In truth I had met Sargent Hida less than a day ago at the very talks I had come into town in the first place. On top of organizing our little special forces conglomerate, the Tokyo police were working on reorganizing the group to get more military training arrangements. Who better than to meet up with some of the best the world's got to offer in town for the week. Hida was a pretty stellar officer for Japan's standards from what I heard, shared a few words in passing. He just came back on the force full time after his son Cody just turned two and was looking to set the new standard for the department. I just told him I liked camping. I'm not exactly a great conversationalist. 'Get a hold of him and tell him to meet us near the docks.' I instructed Ishada tapping the recorder, 'He'll want to hear this.'

'Archer there's something else.' Gennai interjected, 'I have someone on the inside of the Temple.'

'You got a mole in there?' I questioned, 'Who is it?'

'Wizardmon.' He answered, 'He agreed to help me and see what he could find out about what Railius and Daemon is up to.'

Great, another creature from another world I had to trust with my life. 'You trust him?' I asked.

'Same as I trust Cyrismon.' He indicated to the dual dagger wielder.

That did not instill confidence, not like I had a choice at this point. 'Make sure he knows we are coming.' I shook my head agreeing, 'Ishada you're with me.'

'Why?'

'You're the only human witness I got.'


	13. Lost Truths

Humanity, such weak minded souls who at the drop of a simple incantation will devote themselves to anything in the search for immortality. That's all I could think with the facade of benevleance an understanding to the throngs of my followers who flanked me at all times as I walked through our little temple. Amazing what can be done in a couple short months when the devotion outmatches their humility, this warehouse stood as a testimate to myself and my illusion. Imagine what I could do with a city who's feet they'd kiss out of submission, bares a grin on my lips. None so far have stood against me save one who I would find out soon enough all of who he pitifully was.

The Datalist Temple as they called it, I just referred to it as my haven from the rats in my own mind, was extravagance of devotion to us Darths. They didn't call us that, just my liege or lord was what they started with. We looked enough like humans that we could get away with being their Ascended Priests. Farthest from the facts but they would serve thinking we were divinely ordained. I had to neaten myself up and place a false image of pleasantness and sage wisdom, making my robes a little more presentable. Not too hard since my own articals I could change at a moment's notice with a little mental concentration and energy. You can make up anything and humans will believe it, especially when you show them even the basest of abilities. I conjured a little mist and some sparks of energy in my hands and suddenly I'm god's conduit. I just went with it, I was God to them. Heap upon them their version of currency which I could conjure through digital means and the means to digitally hack into previously unknown places and they believe rather easily. Around me was a hundred of the most devoute, kneeling before me in their own robes, as I partsipated in this welcoming ritual. They were identical to Gennai's robes and I just salivated the internal joy I took knowing it would be his image that the world would be flocking to under my rule. 'All praise our Lord and Digital Divine' One of the acolytes announced as I entered the main hall, 'Lord Railius has graced us!'

Divine, it never got old and the passive smile as I held out my hands to my flock, they all reached out to me in return. 'My children we have silenced one of our enemies today.' I announced about the token reporter who died, 'The first silencing of all those who disbelieve. Tonight will be the advent of your undying devotion and you shall all become that of our digital world as one.'

'Singularity take us.' They all droned as one.

'Being your final preparations.' I ordered, 'You have served me well, now it is time to show your true devotion. Tonight we all become digital.'

'Railius be praised.' A more enthusiastically response this time.

The quest for power, such an easy way for the powerless to do anything for even an iota of it. 'Rise and return to your duties.' I waved my hand at them, 'The event begins tonight. Prepare and prevail.'

They all rose as one and turned away to the many built hallways. Once they had left to my elation I strolled through the long hallway of crafted wood, stone and tile. They spent so long carving rudimentary digicode all over the place, painted fine detailed images of their renditions of the digital world. They got it all wrong. I should kill the carver for the horrible spelling mistakes I saw everywhere but it was all meaningless symbolism to them. Admiditly, even though they were mindless there were those that shared my vision as strange as it sounds. I thought Digimon were the only ones with aspirations of power at other's expense. Whatever broken peices of this world I might discard their way as a 'reward', they will serve their porous like the one I needed to see. 'Lord Railius?' A voice from behind me spoke.

I turned and saw only the point of a pointed hat at the bottom of my vision. Drifting down I saw it led to a wide brim with a very fashionable skull in the center of it. Looking up at me from under the wide brim, green eyes gazing with the rest of his face hidden behind tight mask. The same type of clothing was attached to his cloak that went behind his back and over his yellowish jumpsuit, zippers aplenty on it with some making sinister smiles along with the patchwork. He knelt down to me as was custom, the starburst like staff over his knee in his gloved hands. 'I requested to speak to you over an urgent matter.' He bowed his head.

I sniffed long through my nose as I crossed my arms over. 'I told you to not to sneak up on me Wizardmon.' I sneered at him.

'I'm sorry Lord Railius.' He answered solemnly, 'Please forgive me.'

'What is it?' I turned again and made my way through the now deserted hallway to the elevator.

Wizardmon stood and followed obediently, as if on a leash of his own in my tight grip. 'I have been spying on Gennai's attempts to foil our plans.' He informed me, 'It seems as if that human isn't with him. Not as far as I can tell.'

'Unless I see the body he is still out there.' I pointed at him as I pushed the button on the pannel to the elevator, 'Until I have his throat ripped out I will keep looking for him. Daemon said so and whatnot.'

'What's so special about this one human?'

I looked down on him with a look of absolute dismissal to the question, the Champion level virus type shifting away wisely as the doors opened up before us both. 'Special is a word dreamed up in the mind of weaklings for minuscule differences between vermin.' I answered him, 'The only thing that humans are good for is their potential for obedience and use for our own superior means.'

We both entered the elevator and I roughly pushed the button to the basement level. The heavy car shifted dramatically in a lurch right before the cargo doors clanged shut. Wizardmon moved to one of the corner while I stood in the middle of it, him still looking on at me as if expecting a better answer. 'Clearly your subjects can't seem to find him or destroy him.' Wizardmon conceded, 'When are you going to go after him?'

'When he shows his presense of course.' I answered as the elevator lowered down lower into the depths of the basement and my preferred den from all the pointless noise above in the temple, 'I have some brief but satisfying way of stopping his heart in his chest.'

'Still Gennai places his faith in him and children it seems still.' Wizardmon replied with a point, 'Too bad he's on their side. From what I heard he was ruthless.'

I couldn't defy that point despite how much I projected dismissal. Killing of one of my kind is no easy task no matter how trivial Daemon may have perceived us. We can regenerate in shadows, feed off dread and fear emanations from the terrified. If the subject is willing, coerced or blindly giving, drained their very life energy into us. He was barren of such things save the savory hate; I could feel it like a warm acetic boiling across my skin. In that hate he found, I admit distastefully, commendable violence against my kind. No mercy, quarter or hesitation. 'If only I had him in one of our modifiers devices he may prove useful.' I said as the elevator hit bottom to the building, 'Or be convinced through bribes for power.'

'Just like Mr Owikawa?' Wizardmon remarked.

'Indeed so!' I gleefully toned back.

Walking in the basement was a little more at home than upstairs was, the facade verses the true nature of our short time here on this Earth. So much can be accomplished when the will of a being is taken from him and replaced with programming. Then again what is the difference when the creatures are varrious levels of discernible. Down here was where they all came to become 'digital' or 'one with the singularity' if you will. It mostly meant they prayed in their pitiful little rooms, next to a console or in the larger network prayer rooms. They may have different configurations but they all had one thing in very common. The Chakras Purifier or as I liked to call it the Mind Modifier.

It was a simple helmet made of rubber in a webbed netting like design, every place where the lines crossed was a diode of steel that was meant to zap electricity into the mind. Meant for low voltage and just mild shocks, it was a designed from this group called Aum Shurikno. Most of these rejects were already from that group that didn't get caught by the police so we just re-purposed their little toy. I found a way to sap energy from them to feed myself and the fellow Darth brothers. With a little bit of our own manipulation, I could tweak certain things in the minds of my 'loyal' followers. What better way to build an army of devotees when they have no will to question? It took some time but after a day of our conditioning, these ones down here were ours to command. Some did not survive the process, the burnt out minds leaving them brain dead and a drooling husk. All I had to do to cover it up was they were one with the Digital World and we'd all soon join them. Humans will believe anything.

Down here was the true nature of what was to come. Less than two weeks ago this place was just an abandoned warehouse owned by some local gangs called the Yakuza who were using it for some drug distribution. With a little bit of human lead diplomacy and a mountain of Yen larger than Mount Fuji, they left and provided the space for our little temple. Even got them to be lookouts and pay off police from the area as well. It was down here where all of tonight plans would take off from. Crates lined the hallways of what they called 'Kalashnikov', 'plastic explosives' and 'fuel bombs' they had made with a little bit of our help to acquire. Amazing what a few diverted overseas shipments can do when you mess with the shipping documents electronically. The prayer rooms were far more interesting to me, dozens of willing subjects all in a trance with their purifiers on their heads hooked up to networking lines with a brother Darth inside leading the session with his hands on the alter of wires and diodes. Sapping the life force out of them, making the true brother stronger as a result and recording their minds all at the same time. Brilliance I know.

That wasn't the end of our digital influence, after walking down the main hall leading to the old backup generator room was our node to the real world's information. It was highly guarded, two of our programmed acolytes were standing guard, rifles in hand to make sure Mr Owikawa's work was not interrupted or impeded. As I waved them off and they stepped aside in a kneel to me, the large metal doors opened with a flick of my fingers and revealed the entire room.

From top to bottom of every wall around the back up generators were stacks of network racks and mainframe systems, whatever that meant. All I knew about all the electronic systems in here was they could break into many different sources of information around the world. There were many terminals in this wide room, some occupied by a special acolyte who was busy working their own magic around the clock to steal away all they could from any system they could. Money, information, plans, all at the touch of a few keys. The main terminal was taken by Owikawa, a programmer who came to us with a surprising amount of knowledge about the Digital World. He spoke how he saw ghosts of creatures in the videogames he played. Regardless of the validity of his sanity or accuracy, it made him quite pliable to our cause. The short haired man was looking a little more paler that he did when he first came here but his obsession was the reason for that, nothing that we had done so far. I would have put him through the purifier but he didn't seem to need it as he worked on all sorts of things better when he had a goal. All he wanted to do was go to the Digital World. I just might oblige him, however his safety after I tossed him through the portal would be on him alone. He was in our robes we provided but under it was some sort of turtleneck and light pants. Busy clicking away at his keyboard, bowls of rice next to him and a smell of someone who hadn't taken a bath in awhile his constant state the past two weeks. Should have had something in our edicts about cleanliness, one of my rare oversights. 'Yukrio.' I spoke as I approached.

I saw his face as he turned around and...he looked incredibly concerned. The flavor of it wasn't about me; something else that brewed that dread up in his stomach. Owikawa stood and then knelt down on one knee before me, several beads of sweat on his forehead rolling down his temple. 'Yes my lord?'

'Is the data almost completed?' I asked.

'Yes my lord.' He stood and returned to his station, 'My searches have found so many of the brights you asked for.'

Brights. Little points of light. If there was anything out there I knew to look for, it was finding potential children of destiny. I could not just pull it at will like Gennai for I was severed from the Order, I had to do it through these primitive networks dispite that they made up my world. He scanned through the screens of faces of elementary children, filtering them for aptitude and those little special factors that narrowed the chance. Then again, we weren't about to take the chance if I got a dud. This required sudden efficiency and ruthless execution. 'Imagine what all these children can do my lord.' He happily mused at me, 'We can create a new world with them.'

Oh please spare me this 'we' thing. It will be me alone with my fingers in this world's future. 'Once we have them from their repressive lives imagine the levels they will reach with your teachings.' He turned to me with a wide smile on his face at me, 'Look at what you have done for all of our brothers!'

I was about to lay a false platitude but my mide came to a slow stop at that moment, a single spark of an idea hitting my mind. I looked back to him with a far different smile, one that he had never seen. It was the smile of something sinister and speculative. 'Pardon my child?' I held up a finger at him, 'What did you say?'

'I mean my lord you have unlocked all of our potentials.' He refereed to the purifiers, 'And you said the younger we are the easier it is to reach your vision. Isn't that what you said?'

I didn't answer him as I looked to Wizardmon. His look was the same from his eyes as normal, but there was that similar to mine but I could see his mouth was wide open under that mask. Could have been on the same vein of joy or abject horror, I couldn't sense which it was. I didn't care, an idea just blossomed with gnashing voraciousness of potential. Using the children for my own? Why didn't I think of that sooner?! 'Yes.' I redirected back to him quickly, 'I did. But enough of what I have said. You have done me a great service Owikawa. Send the files to our global counterparts immediately.'

He turned to the computer quickly and with a few fast key swipes my order was fulfilled, all across my world the details of who and what and where and as well as how to strike disseminated to all of my many acolytes. It didn't take long to spread my influence, everywhere finding those willing to give into the cult of submission to me. It would be amazing if it wasn't so easy and pitiful. 'Now what about the man I told you to find.' I asked, 'The one who is trying to distract us.'

In those words I saw Owikawa's face return to the grim visage from before we started, now meekly looking back at me and shaking his head. 'My lord its not what I did find.' He spoke lowly, 'Its what I didn't find that what makes me concerned.'

I leaned into him, fingers gripping into his shoulders as they lightly tensed in on his pitiful form. I could crush all the bones in his torso right now but I refrained for the moment. I leaned past his head and looked over him, the human looked a little disturbed as he should be. 'You have access to all databases you can think of from here.' I reminded him repressing a rage, 'You said all you needed was a photograph.'

A quivering hand clicked a few keys and on the screen came up a display window with the face of the human I had demanded to find out about. It was him, a straight forward shot of his head in some personnel file. It was him, those eyes I will never forget for the simple fact he gave me that blind defiance in the face of death. I expected to see all of the details of his life but saw...redacted? Under everything in the personnel file like address, family, hobbies...everything except his name, rank and something called a serial number. 'That's all you can find on this Archer?' I hissed into his ear.

'That's what scares me.' He admitted, 'I've...never seen anything like it. No databases of any law enforcement or military has any record of him.'

I stood up from him confused, it was fear on his face looking into this soldiers eyes. Weak in spirit. He may need to undergo some conditioning after all. 'One feeble man shouldn't scare you.' I falsely laughed off, 'He has rules of a repressed society he must obey.'

"My lord what would a man who doesn't exist care about rules?' Wizardmon remarked.

This was bizarrely perplexing. Gennai was far too of a slave to alignment to align with anyone other than those allied with the holy tyrants. Beckons of good, moral absolutists to justice and all that tripe. All slaves to orthodox masters, nothing more. This Archer was not anyone like Gennai's chosen. A mistake? A misjudgment? Desperation? Maybe he was starting to learn after all. Too late mind you. 'Use the city's surveillance systems to track him down.' I ordered, 'Don't leave this seat until you find him.'

'Yes my lord.' Owikawa answered returning to his work.

I left the room in a quick pace, Wizardmon right beside me as I was only half pleased and only Owikawa's usefulness was what kept him alive up to this point. 'I have to say Lord Railius.' Wizardmon said approaching my right side, 'A brilliant idea to take the DigiDestined away from Gennai's hand. Stealing his own idea will be sure to destroy him.'

I stopped in place, ignorance froze me. My mind and eyes turned cold as I looked back as my face turned dead pan. I reached down around that scruff of his mask before he could protest. Lifting the Champion level, a meaningless term they call themselves for their supposed strength or ability, right off the ground and with one arm pinning him to the wall. Wizardmon didn't dare fight back because he knew what I knew; I could end his existence if I so chose. His gloved hands gripped into my hand so he could support himself or keep his mask affixed. 'You know the humans have a saying I like.' I said looking at him, 'A lie told often enough becomes the truth. You were told the biggest lie of them all.'

"My lord ple-' He started.

My fingers gripped into his neck and clamped him now to the wall, choking off his air in a croak, eyes wide in his head now he couldn't breath. 'Shut up and listen.' I remained leveled in my tone but not my tempered rage, 'I vowed to destroy all the Order and the Masters for what they took from me. It wasn't just my freedom they stole.'

I moved into his face with my own nose pressed to his mask, fear taking over and I laid on a smile as I felt a rush of needed energized dread was over me from him. 'I will take back my legacy from them for myself.' I informed him, 'And I will take both worlds in kind.'

I grated him across the wall as I threw him away, tossing him through a crate with a satisfying crunch. The wooden panels of the boxes cracked and left spilled the Kalashnikov on the floor. He fell to the ground in a heap and onto his side, rolling onto his chest as he gripped his back. I came up next to him and put a boot on the back of his neck as he gasped for air. 'Now what do you say?'

'Forgive me Lord Railius!' He panicked covering his head, 'I didn't know about-.'

I pressed in a little more, squeezing down and muddling up his hair and hat. He squirmed around hard, fingers digging into the ground to get away but failing as expected. 'That's why you're alive right now.' I then let go of him roughly grinding my boot down the side of his cape and wiping off the rest of the muck on his cloak.

Wizardmon slowly got up, one of the weapons falling off him and onto the ground as he rose to a knee, head in a bow. 'Thank you for your mercy my lord.' He squeaked at me.

I rolled my eyes and snapped a the bottom of my other boot directly into his face, stamping the simple tread pattern into his mask and knocking off his hat to show his oddly bright dirty blond hair on his head. 'You're very welcome.' I smirked as he fell back to the ground in a fetal position, 'Now get back to your shadows before I hang you with your own cape around your neck.'

Wizardmon didn't answer, choosing to cower on the floor as I turned away, arms up over his face but looking between them at me as I dismissed him with a turn away. Now I had a new idea for myself, one that even Daemon couldn't prevent or see. Time to take what's mine.

They were my idea after all.


End file.
